CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Bureau of Customs is filing charges against a shipment consignee after hundreds of plastic drums containing hydrochloric acid from India were found to have no import permit when it entered the Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, recently.
The BoC in Northern Mindanao or Region 10 said it will file a complaint against the consignee apart from the one the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is preparing, said Alvin Enciso, chief of the agency’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.
Last week, a warrant of seizure and detention was issued by Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, upon the request of Deputy Commissioner Teddy Raval of the agency’s Intelligence Group to hold the chemical at MCT pending the filing of cases, Enciso said.
He said the 320 plastic drums were seized by BoC-10 as PDEA-10 also confirmed the chemical was really hydrochloric acid—used to produce the illegal drug shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride—after it underwent a laboratory test.
The chemical was in placed inside four 4×20 container vans that entered the MCT sub-port last month.
PDEA-10 said the samples taken from the items containing hydrochloric acid is a controlled precursor and essential chemical under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
“With the laboratory result, we have already forwarded our recommendations to the [BOC] head office for filing of smuggling case against the importer,” Enciso said.
He said the consignee failed to present an import permit. For that, the company based in Butuan City may be facing violations of importation laws.
The violation, he added, is that the consignee failed to present an import permit from PDEA, the Environment department and Food and Drug Administration, documents an importing company must secure prior to importation.
Enciso said the PDEA in Caraga also raided the company’s warehouse and discovered dozens of plastic drums containing hydrochloric acid.
The consignee said the hydrochloric acid was intended for use in mining activities, although Enciso noted the importing company was transparent in its declaration. He said smugglers of imported goods usually do not properly declare the items that entered the local ports.
But he said that since the consignee is a retailer, it is possible they will just sell the chemical without verifying if it’s really utilized for mining or for the manufacture of shabu.