P50M ‘smuggled’ agri, meat products seized in Manila

THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) arrested around 15 suspects during a raid in two illegal cold storage facilities in Tondo, Manila.

Authorities seized P50 million worth of suspected smuggled agriculture and meat products in cold storage facilities. Also arrested was a Chinese national who was named the point person of the alleged illegal operation  

 “These are all illegal because we were given a letter of authority by the Bureau of Customs para ma-seize ito. These products are not safe for the consumption of the public dahil ‘di dumaan sa Food and Drugs Administration and deprives income for the government,” said NCRPO Regional Director Police Major General Edgar Allan Okubo.

One of the cold storage facilities yielded boxes of fruits and vegetables from China while the other contained imported chicken meat from the US and imported pork from China.

The NCRPO is now investigating when the facility started operating and who were the persons behind it, Okubo added.

The recovered agriculture products were being supplied allegedly to customers in Divisoria and Binondo. However, they declined to comment on where the meat products were being sold.

“Malaking epekto po sa local farmers and traders natin dahil it will be a very unfair competition. Di dumaan sa processes and permits, dito nalulugi ang mga kababayan natin,” said Okubo.

The Customs Bureau is now looking into how the suspected smuggled products entered the country. They are also set to destroy the intercepted goods to prevent them from being sold in markets.