ZAMBOANGA CITY – Hundreds of sacks of seized smuggled sugar have mysteriously disappeared from the custody of the Bureau of Customs in the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga, officials said Friday.
Officials said local authorities have confiscated 1,170 sacks of sugar on January 6 and handed all these to the Customs, but it had been discovered that only 325 sacks remain at the agency’s warehouse at the Port of Zamboanga.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar has called for a thorough investigation into the missing Thailand Mitr Phol sugar after inspecting the warehouse. Salazar rushed to the warehouse following reports of the disappearance of 845 bags weighing nearly 85 tons of Mitr Phol sugar.
Port police told Salazar that there was also a group of men who wanted to take the remaining sugar purportedly on her instruction, but authorities refused to release them.
Salazar ordered authorities to investigate who these men were. “I will not tolerate the use of my name for smuggling activities. I will not tolerate smuggling and all other illegal activities in Zamboanga City. Persons responsible for illegal activities will be met (sic) with the law,” she said in a statement.
The mayor has also questioned the slow response of the Bureau of Customs here to the anti-smuggling operations by local authorities. She has written to Customs Commissioner John Philip Sevilla to complain about this, adding, “We have to show fast action versus smuggling (activities in Zamboanga City).”
The Bureau of Customs here had many times in the past released seized rice smuggled from Sabah in Malaysia even if its importers had no permits from the National Food Authority to import rice abroad. (Mindanao Examiner)
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