Mid-year haul: Over P10B in smuggled goods fail to slip past BOC in 1st half of 2021
More than P10 billion worth of smuggled goods have been seized in various ports and warehouses in the country over the last six months of 2021, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) bared Wednesday, July 7.

The confiscated contrabands were a combination of counterfeit cigarettes, misdeclared agricultural products, medical supplies, and other fake goods imitating signature brands.
According to the BOC's Intelligence Group (IG), they have intercepted a total of P10.195 billion worth of goods from 565 smuggling attempts since January.
The IG said it is "optimistic that the value of the seized goods may be doubled by yearend," noting that the P10.195-billion mid-year haul almost matched the value of seized smuggled shipments for the whole year of 2020. The haul for smuggled goods that year amounted to P10.6 billion.
The seized goods include P5.575 billion worth of counterfeit products, P1.089 billion in tobacco, P12 million in agricultural products, and P10.5 million in medical supplies.
During the same period, 37 warehouses were inspected, which resulted to the closure of three facilities due to their violation of various customs Laws.
The operations also led to the revocation and suspension of the accreditations of 562 importers.