Around P24.28 billion worth of illegal drugs, agricultural products and other items were confiscated during the year-long anti-smuggling operations in 2022, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) disclosed on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

In its consolidated report for 2022, the BOC said the confiscated items include P11.9 billion worth of illegal drugs, P7.69 billion worth of counterfeit goods, and P1.87 billon worth of agricultural products.

BOC Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the confiscated items were the subject of the 109 of the 200 Letter of Authorities and 120 of the 193 alert orders issued last year.

In the campaign against smuggling of agricultural products, Ruiz said one of the strategies implemented was to classify all importations of agricultural commodities, except those selected under the Super Green Lane (SGL) Facility, as high-risk commodities.

"This resulted in 137 seizures of various agricultural products with a total estimated value of P1.87 billion," said Ruiz.

On other high-risk shipments that resulted in the issuance of Warrant and Seizure and Detention (WSD), 88.8 percent were targeted shipments of the Risk Management Office (RMO) for non-intrusive and physical inspection.

Ruiz said This was a result of the improved Risk Management System (RMS) which the BOC has advanced to intensify its intelligence and enforcement capabilities.

Under the RMS, the Offense Management System was implemented to enhance the BOC’s risk assessment and profiling to support risk management.

In addition, Ruiz said Compliance Track Record is being maintained as a feedback mechanism which aids trade facilitation by prioritizing the targeting of high-risk importers while facilitating low-risk shipments.

The BOC also implemented the automated listing linked from the Client Profile Registration System, which allows the automatic storing of applications of importers and customs brokers upon the approval of the Account Management Office (AMO).

"This automation eliminates the traditional manual uploading of company profiles in the RMS," he said.

Another successful anti-smuggling program that yielded positive results, according to Ruiz, was the launching of the National Customs Intelligence System (NCIS).

"This web portal acts as a secure data warehouse of intelligence information from the intelligence and enforcement offices of the agency. The system enables the generation of reports from these offices for a seamless, transparent, and comprehensive decision-making analysis resulting to a more responsive border control policy," said Ruiz.