BOC seizes P15M worth of cigarettes to be smuggled to Vietnam, Thailand - Nation - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA

.MANILA, Philippines - Customs officials on Thursday morning seized illegal shipments of cigarettes worth some P15 million that were about to be shipped abroad, a radio report said. Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said customs agents were able to thwart the scheduled exportation of the shipments of cigarettes – stored in two 20-foot container vans – to Vietnam and Thailand. Morales said the shipments were discovered in the Manila International Container Port (MICT) terminal at the Port of Manila.Morales said the shipments were considered illegal as the contents of the container vans were initially declared as home appliances and grocery items that would only be sold locally, the official said. Also, the shipments' owner had failed to secure an export commodity clearance certificate from the Bureau of Customs, as required by the National Tobacco Authority. The Customs chief said the illegal cargo was supposed to be brought to the two Asian neighbors and be sold to Filipinos there, who prefer Philippine-made tobacco over strong-tasting foreign-made cigarettes. The shipments’ owner – a certain Antonio Sy – will be facing charges of misdeclaration and illegal export, Morales added. The two container vans are currently under the custody of Customs, pending further investigation, the report added. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV