The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Saturday stated it foiled an try and smuggle P240 million value of refined sugar from Thailand into the Philippines.
In a report, the BOC stated personnel of the Customs Police Division-Enforcement and Security Service (CPD-ESS), Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) apprehended the vessel carrying sugar within the neighborhood of Bauan and Mabini breakwaters in Batangas on Friday, January 13.
The company stated the seized white refined sugar with a web weight of fifty kilograms per bag was consigned to Stone Int’l. Co. Ltd. from shipper The Thai Sugar Trading Corp.
“We are appalled at the audacity of these groups to continue with their activities despite the BOC’s intensified efforts lately to apprehend them. But thankfully, our team is just as relentless and tenacious to, once and for all, end such reprehensible acts,” Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz stated in an announcement.
The BOC stated the operation got here following a report that Voi MV Sunward was carrying sugar with no discover of arrival filed with the bureau.
Authorities boarded the vessel and talked with its skipper, Captain Rosalito Lamoste.
The company, citing Lamoste, stated the vessel arrived round 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 12.
Batangas Port district collector Rhea Gregorio issued the corresponding Warrant of Seizure and Detention (WSD) in opposition to the vessel and sugar cargo. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
