A shipment of smuggled carrots was confiscated by agents of the ManilaInternational Container Port, through the Sub-port of North Harbor, the Bureau of Plant Industry-Plant Quarantine Service (BPI-PQS), and the Department of Trade and Industry Sub-Task Group on Economic Intelligence in a joint operation conducted at the Manila North Harbor Port, Inc. on Aug. 16.

Lawyer Jesus Balmores, Officer-in-Charge of the North Harbor Port, recommended the examination of the shipment upon receipt of information regarding the contraband from the BPI. The shipment from China was declared as chocolates, but was found to contain fresh carrots.

The shipment will undergo seizure and disposal proceedings for violation of Sections 1113 (Property Subject to Seizure and Forfeiture), 117 (Regulated Importation and Exportation), and 1401 (Unlawful Importation and Exportation) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), BPI-National Plant Quarantine Service’s Rules and Regulations for the Importation of Plant products, and Republic Act No. 10845 or the “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016”.

District Collector Romeo Allan R. Rosales said the Port would further enhance measures to improve its border protection programs against the entry of smuggled agricultural products.