The Bureau of Customs seized a shipment of imported rice declared as “polyester knitted breast cup” in an attempt to defraud the government of rightful duties and taxes.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said that Worldwide Apparel Manufacturing Inc. will be criminally charged for the illegal importation of 500 sacks of glutinous rice from Hong Kong worth P2 million declared as “polyester knitted breast cup.”
“The consignee declared it as polyester knitted breast cup, however, during the conduct of x-ray examination, a different image was retrieved from the machine which led to the issuance of alert order as per recommendation of the x-ray Inspection Project,” Lapeña said.
Large-scale smuggling of agricultural products is considered an “economic sabotage” under Republic Act No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, but the threshold amount has been pegged at P10 million, he said.