Paging Commissioner Yogi Filemon L. Ruiz, another modus operandi. .according to 2ndZambo City Mobile Force Company. The root vegetable has become so expensive in the country that some want to ride the bandwagon by smuggling it from other countries. Com. Yogi Ruiz, in southern Philippines, the 2nd Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company (2ZCMFC) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) intercepted a JUNGKONG motorized boat that was transporting 24,000 kilos of onions..
According to Police Lt. Col. Reynald Ariรฑo, 2ZCMFC commander, said they recovered about 6,000 mesh bags of red and white onions in separate operations in La Caldera Point and inVaradero de Cawit in Zamboanga del Sur.
Com. Ruiz based on the labels and tags, the police said the shipment originally came from India and was sneaked into the country via Sabah.
The boat skipper told investigators that their watercraft was only chartered to transport the bags from Taganak in TawiTawi province. According to the BOC, the Onions had a total value of P9.4 million.
It added that the onions were seized after the boat crew failed to present sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry, thus violating Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act [CMTA] of 2016, and the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The confiscated items were turned over to the custody of the Department of Agriculture [DA] and BOC for further inventory and investigation. โ [R.P/R.R]
