Smuggled red onions worth P2M intercepted

A TOTAL of 25 metric tons or about P2 million worth of red onions smuggled from China have been intercepted by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Mindanao International Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported on Tuesday.  The shipment, which arrived on May 26, was declared as frozen goods consisting of buns, croissant dough, egg noodles, pizza dough, and spring rolls and consigned to Binondo-based company Lantix Consumer Goods Trading.  Cagayan de Oro’s BPI-Plant Quarantine Service asked the BOC to stop the release of the shipment for an inspection, which led to the discovery of the falsely declared goods.

The DA has not issued sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances for red onion from China, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said, adding that the government would take legal action against violators through the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act.

“We intend to go after these unscrupulous traders with the full force of the law,” he emphasized.

The Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act sets harsher sanctions on agricultural smuggling, such as hefty fines and extended prison sentences.

“We thank the BOC and District Collector Arthur Sevilla of the Mindanao Container Terminal. With the speedy coordination of the DA-BPI and the BOC, the smuggled onions were not able to get out into the markets,“ Tiu Laurel said.