‘BOC syndicates transferring mobile X-ray machines’

An administration lawmaker has revealed that entrenched syndicates in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) may be behind the “transfer” of mobile X-ray machines out of the designated examination area at a container port in Mindanao.

Party-list Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Rep. Jericho Nograles said the BOC officials were “employed by syndicates who want to smuggle into the country various contraband” at the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) Services Inc. in the Phividec Industrial Estate complex in Misamis Oriental.

“Due to martial law in Mindanao, the MICT and other seaports and free ports in Mindanao must have strict monitoring of incoming and outgoing shipments. This questionable decision to transfer the X-ray is truly very alarming and highly suspicious,” he said.

Nograles said this is “not only suspicious,” but is actually “also very dangerous considering the continuing threat of terrorism in Mindanao.”

In this modus, he said containers are sneaked out of the port to be unloaded in nearby warehouses. The same containers are then brought back to the MICT for dummy inspection and documentation.

“They call this swinging operation. No shipment is missing since all containers are accounted for. Containers that contain smuggled goods are unloaded before documentation and this is possible because the containers no longer pass through the examination area,” he said.

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