Eleven containers of misdeclared knocked down crusher machines from China were intercepted at the Port of Batangas Wednesday, the Bureau of Customs said.
Instead of the declared items --- purportedly steel prefab frame and crusher machine spare parts --- Customs agents found various parts that would make up a crusher machine.
Physical inspection of the cargoes revealed machine parts like cone crusher, sand washing machine, feeder, low voltage power distribution, counters, cable, mantle, concave, ball tile, cone Hhad, sealing, pressure ring, pressure cap, lock bolt, spring seat, bolts, locking cylinder, protective cylinder, jaw crusher, screen, conveyor, hopper, steel frames, discharge hopper, jaw plates, lining plates, toggle, v-belts, toggle seat, foundry weight, tension rods, springs and screen mesh.
“All these parts when assembled would be a working crusher machine,” District Collector Ma. Rhea Gregorio said.
The seized items have an estimated value of P29.65 million. These arrived at the port of Batangas on August 11 from Shanghai, China. The shipment was consigned to Merchamps Empire Ltd. Co. and was processed by licensed Customs Broker Daryl Santos.
After a spot-check examination, which revealed that the shipment appears to be a knocked down crush machine for assembly, an alert order was issued against the misdeclared shipment on August 18.
A warrant of seizure and detention has been issued against the shipment for violation of Section 1400 “Misdeclaration, Misclassification, and Undervaluation in Goods Declaration” in relation to Section 1113 “Property Subject Seizure and Forfeiture” of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.