Anti-Smuggling Task Force In The Philippines Nets $793,000
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Foreign Correspondent Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Philippine government's anti-smuggling task force on Thursday said the group has already collected an additional $793,000 in taxes from illegally imported goods they confiscated during intense operations against smugglers over the past five months. Bureau of Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the Anti-Smuggling Task Force is now nearing its $1 million collection target. He said, "We are heading towards more aggressive and bolder operations as smugglers continue to defy with impunity ports and customs laws." Records from the BOC showed the task force raided 12 warehouses in Metro Manila and southern Philippines. The group also foiled a smuggling attempt into the country that blocked an estimated $178,000 worth of garments from entering through a special economic zone in the northern province of Luzon. Among the unit's biggest successes was the confiscation last week of a shipment of smuggled rice worth $413,000, aboard two ships docked at Manila's North Harbor. The smuggled rice was contained in 52 20-footer containers. They were originally scheduled for shipment in Cebu, Philippines but were later redirected to ports in Visayas in central Philippines and Mindanao, south of the country, because of the bureau's intensified anti-smuggling campaign. Morales told reporters the bureau was assisted by the Philippine C |
