A 40-foot container van with 25 tons of seashells bound for China was seized in barangay Subabasbas, Lapu-Lapu City.
The van was opened yesterday by fisheries and environment personnel at聽 the grounds of Lapu-Lapu City Hall yesterday.
A certain Jan Vincent Ong who identified himself as the owner was unable to show documents for聽 the cargo.
When asked for his auxiliary and business permits, Ong said they聽 were still being processed.
鈥淲e held the shipment because he didn鈥檛 show聽 papers,鈥� said SPO1 Jomar Yba帽ez, leader of聽 Task Force Kalikasan.
The task force was on patrol in barangay Subabasbas when they聽 spotted people loading cartons and sacks of seashells in the聽 van.
Ong鈥檚 lawyer Glenn Villariza and Lapu-Lapu City legal officer Yuri Belvan were present during the opening of the van and inventory of its聽 contents.
The owner of the container van was identified as Sabtiri D. Jalili, a proprietor of Seashells and Souvenir Exports.
The shells were scheduled to be delivered yesterday to Shenzhen Ruifu Trading Co., Ltd, which has offices in聽 Tai Ranjiu Road Futian District of China.
Some of the shells found were scallops, tuna shells, puka聽 shells and sigay.
They were placed in 450 boxes and sacks .
鈥淎ll items are legal, but it鈥檚 now up to the local government unit (LGU) to determine if the items have the right documents,鈥澛� said BFAR officer Randolph Coralles.
He said the transport of聽聽 seashells within the country needs聽 an auxiliary permit from the local government unit. A聽 fisheries commodity clearance is required for transporting them abroad.
In another case, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she will check with the Capitol鈥檚 legal office what聽 legal action to take against the barangay captain and 20 fishermen who were released after fishing in restricted waters in Oslob town, south Cebu.
Last Saturday, Tanieto Luardo, barangay captain of Suba, Samboan town and 20 fishermen on board F/B San Antonio were arrested by Bantay Dagat personnel for fishing in the聽 waters of barangay Caceres in Oslob town.
A Bantay Dagat team confiscated 120 kilograms of a various fish.
A聽 聽Samboan municipal聽 ordinance prohibits non-Samboan residents from fishing in in municipal waters.
The fishermen and Luardo paid a P52,500 fine for their immediate release at 2 p.m. yesterday. With Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus