6,000 pieces of Peking duck from Hong Kong seized

MANILA, Philippines – Customs agents have seized 6,000 pieces of smuggled Peking duck from Hong Kong in the Port of Batangas.

The contraband could have been intended for the Chinese New Year last Feb. 8.

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service officer-in-charge Manolo Arevalo said they seized a 20-foot container van loaded with 500 cartons or 6,000 pieces of Peking duck.

They are being considered for condemnation, he added. 

Arevalo said the shipment was misdeclared as 9,450 kilograms of frozen meat upon arrival last month, and they immediately coordinated with the National Meat Inspection Service.

“It was learned that the NMIS does not issue permits for imported meat from Hong Kong or China because of the Avian flu virus” in these countries, he said.

Arevalo did not discount the possibility that the large importation of Peking ducks was in preparation for the Chinese New Year celebration.

“If we would look at the time frame, it arrived on Jan. 17, that would have given them enough time to process the release of the shipment and get them out of the port in time for the Chinese New Year,” he said.

Arevalo said he has built an airtight case around the shipment.

“In chess parlance, that would have been a  checkmate for the importer GET Enterprises,” he said.

It was also discovered that apart from having no NMIS permit, the address of GET Enterprises was fictitious, having no record of its existence in Barangay Inosluban, Lipa City, Batangas, Arevalo said.  

Last Jan. 31, Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Service Jessie Dellosa recommended the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention against the shipment for violating the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines and Customs Memorandum Order 8-2007.

It also went against Department of Agriculture Administrative Order no. 9, series of 2010.