‘Smuggled’ rice worth P53-M seized

BATANGAS CITY — Coast Guard personnel seized P53 million worth of suspected smuggled rice from a vessel docked at the Sta. Clara pier here yesterday.

Capt. Alejandro Flora Jr., the Coast Guard’s Southern Tagalog district commander, said 93 containers of suspected smuggled rice were confiscated aboard MV Nossa Señora de Fatima during the dawn raid.

The vessel, which originated from Polloc, Cotabato City, was supposed to unload its cargo at the North Harbor in Manila Thursday night but was diverted to the Batangas port allegedly to escape detection by Customs authorities.

"Out of the 93 containers, 73 were positively identified as smuggled rice. Only 50 containers were declared and 43 were not on the manifest," Flora said.

The container vans, he said, were allegedly misdeclared as corn grits and consigned to different names such as Beri Farm, SCC Farm and Agro Farm.

Coast Guard personnel here are now conducting a full inventory of the cargo, after which the vessel and the confiscated cargo will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for the issuance of a seizure and detention order. – Arnell Ozaeta, Sheila Crisostomo and Mike Frialde