Customs seizes P18 million cigarettes from China

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) yesterday seized P18.5 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes that were allegedly smuggled from China to the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the 40-footer shipping container reportedly carried suspected fake cigarettes with the brands Jackpot, Fortune, John, Marvels and U2. 

Lapeña said the shipment arrived from China last April 4 and was intercepted when it passed through the BOC’s X-Ray Inspection Project (XIP) on April 10. 

The shipment was consigned to Marid Industrial Marketing based in Paco, Manila and the Customs broker was identified as Carme Ann Rollon.

The shipping container van was declared to contain 890 cartons of industrial artificial fur texture but when examined, 914 cartons of smuggled cigarettes were found. 

“The industrial textures are usually in rolls but our x-ray technician noticed a discrepancy because the image in the x-ray machine showed that the contents were in boxes,” Lapeña said.  

A technical expert told the BOC that some of the cigarettes were bogus because they had the same serial numbers. 

The government has yet to determine what chemicals were used in the manufacturing of the counterfeit cigarettes since they may not be safe for human consumption, Lapeña said.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said yesterday it has created a task force against the smuggling of cigarettes into the country.

Commissioner Caesar Dulay said cigarette smuggling is reportedly rampant outside Metro Manila, including provinces such as Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

He said fake cigarettes can be sold for half the price of legitimate ones. – With Mary Grace Padin