BOC seizes P54 million smuggled sugar

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) yesterday seized 48 shipping containers of refined sugar, valued at P54 million, at the Port of Manila after they were misdeclared as holding hardware materials.

The 48 containers, which came from China and arrived in the Philippines in August and September, were consigned to Rztrec and Traclef Trading, BOC spokesman Vincent Philip Maronilla.

He said the BOC confiscated the containers following a physical examination of their contents, which had been declared as “steel, tex screw, clamp, nails and hardware fittings.”