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Seller of fake customs receipts busted

Rappler.com

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Seller of fake customs receipts busted
The Bureau of Customs has also intercepted mailed anti-impotency pills

MANILA, Philippines – A woman was nabbed in a buy-bust operation by operatives of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for selling fake BOC receipts.

Llana Cabangbang, 19, was caught selling the counterfeit BOC receipts outside the Paircargo Warehouse, adjacent to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

In a video documentation, Cabangbang was seen handing over the fake receipts and receiving P2000 ($44.65*) to a BOC informant right before she was apprehended.

Cabangbang was carrying the following: falsified BOC official receipt with OR No. 01854212287 under the name of Emmanuel C. Ragas and signed by Vivian Dayao; a blank receipt with OR No. 01852553489; and a photocopy of BOC receipt with OR No. 01854212283 stamped with “certified true copy.” The fake receipts were signed and initialed by a certain “JSF” dated October 10.

Dayao, acting chief of collection division of the bureau’s NAIA collection District confirmed the receipts were fake. BCOR No. 01852553489 is not included in the list of BCORs supplied by the procurement unit of the BOC’s general services division, while BCOR No. 0185421228 is an outright fake, as it had the wrong security code, Dayao said.

“We would like to get to the bottom of this and weed out the syndicate selling fake receipts once and for all,” BOC NAIA district collector Edgar Macabeo said.

Cabangbang faces charges for alleged violation of Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines (RPC) and Section 3602 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) as amended.

Mailed anti-impotence pills seized by Customs

SEIZED. To date, Customs has already confiscated over P500 million of illegal drugs and other controlled chemicals. Photo from the Bureau of Customs

In a separate operation, BOC operatives intercepted a parcel mailed from the United States containing 268 blue-colored pills suspected to be sildenafil citrate, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and sold under various trade names like “Viagra.”

The drugs, packed in 4-tablet blister packs, have an estimated street value of over P40,000 ($894.06).

Declared as “assorted pharmaceutical products,” the parcel was mailed on January 6, 2014, to a certain Angelica Amor Vasquez.

The package arrived at the San Juan Central Post Office on January 18, 2014, but it was unclaimed for the last 8 months, prompting authorities to open the package.

The parcel were seized by BOC officials for violation of Section 2530 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP), as amended, in relation to Food and Drug Administration law, rules, and regulations and the Intellectual Property Code or Republic Act 8293.

The sildenafil citrate pills have been turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

To date, the BOC has also confiscated over P500 million ($11.18 million) of illegal drugs and other controlled chemicals. These include methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, marijuana, Ecstacy, Valium, Ativan, Dormicum, Rivotril, Alprazolam, Ritalin, and other unlabeled tablets.

All products that come into the country – whether by ship, balikbayan box or postal parcels, are subject to BOC inspection and maybe charged with corresponding duties and taxes or are outright prohibit or require special permits.

“Unscrupulous individuals sometimes try to use postal mail and express parcels to ship illegal or prohibited items to and from the Philippines because they think that there is minimal chance of being caught. Let this be a warning to the public that we are closely monitoring all mail, parcels, and packages,” BOC Commissioner John P. Sevilla said in a statement. Rappler.com 

*$1 = P44.74

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