P1.4 billion smuggled e-cigarettes seized from Valenzuela warehouse

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs confiscated an estimated P1.428 billion worth of suspected smuggled electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) from a warehouse in Valenzuela City on Oct. 26, the BOC reported yesterday.

The bureau received information on a warehouse in the Bagong Filipino industrial compound along M. Gregorio street in Barangay Canumay West that was “being utilized as storage of voluminous illegally imported e-cigarettes or vape products without proper payment of correct duties and taxes,” according to Verne Enciso, director of the BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.

After the issuance of a letter of authority from BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, operatives who inspected the warehouse last Oct. 26 found “14,000 boxes that contained an estimated 1.4 million pieces of 10-milliliter disposable vapes bearing the mark Flava.”

Merrill Opena, operations outsourcing head of the warehouse, received the BOC’s letter of authority demanding that the management present “proof of payment of duties and taxes and other importation documents, as needed, that would cover the goods found inside the warehouse,” the BOC said.

According to the BOC’s estimates, the 1.4 million vape units sold at P500 per piece could cost P700 million. Excise taxes the government could collect could reach P728 million if the basis is the P52 excise tax charged on each milliliter of e-cigarette fluid.

The management of the warehouse could face charges for violating the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act if they failed to present documents of tax payment, the BOC warned.