INTELLIGENCE operatives of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized some P3.72 billion worth of smuggled vapes in a raid in several warehouses in the cities of Malabon and Paranaque.
Customs Commissioner Bien Rubio said on Friday that the raid was part of the bureau’s agenda to specifically target smuggled e-cigarettes or vapes.
“This is an ongoing, active investigation and inspection. We are not yet done examining these warehouses, but we will be able to determine at the soonest time possible the exact amount of smuggled vapes they contain,” he said.
In his report to Rubio, BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso said the warehouse in San Dionisio, Parañaque City was found with an estimated 1.5 million pieces of the Flava brand e-cigarettes in assorted flavors.
“To be more precise, there were around 15,000 boxes of vapes, with 100 pieces per box. That’s a total of 1.5 million pieces of vapes. The current market value is P500 per piece, so that’s a total of P750 million. Add to that the excise tax that should be collected, and the total estimated sum up value would be P1.53 billion,” he said
Enciso said the excise tax is worth P520 per 10ml or one piece, so the government should have collected around P780 million from the 1.5 million pieces of smuggled vapes.
The BOC-CIIS also has an ongoing inspection of some warehouses located in Superb Catch Inc., Compound 46, Hernandez St., Barangay Catmon, Malabon City.
One warehouse yielded about 19,800 boxes, with 100 pieces of vapes per box, during an initial inventory, Enciso said.
At P550 each, the 1.98 million pieces of vape have a total market value of P1.089 billion. In addition, P520 worth of excise tax per item should have been collected for a total of P1,029,600,000.
The market value and the excise tax of the smuggled vape products totaled to P2,118,600,000.
