Customs personnel at the Port of Zamboanga destroy 5,624 master cases and 1,171 reams of smuggled cigarettes seized and forfeited, on November 30, 2023 at a rented warehouse in Brgy. Tetuan, Zamboanga City.
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Smuggled goods worth P85.1 billion were confiscated by the Bureau of Customs in operations in 2024, the agency said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the bureau said it conducted over 2,100 anti-smuggling operations last year to target counterfeit products, illegal drugs, tobacco products, vape items and agricultural commodities.
Customs also reported that it saw almost 20 billion liters of fuel in its fuel marking program, a measure to combat the smuggling of petroleum products.
The bureau said the amount of fuel marked in 2024 generated P242 billion in tax revenue and saw a 5-percent increase from the fuel marked in 2023.
READ: 26 nabbed; over P13 million worth of oil products seized in Batangas
Furthermore, Customs said it revoked the licenses of 56 importers and brokers found to have violated regulations; and filed 45 criminal cases for smuggling incidents.
READ: BOC: Over P72B smuggled goods seized from Jan to Oct 2024
鈥淏y leveraging intelligence, enforcement and inter-agency collaboration, the BOC remains steadfast in its mission to secure our borders and uphold economic stability,鈥� Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said in a statement.