Ghio Ong – The Philippine Star

October 29, 2023 | 12:00am

The bureau obtained info on a warehouse within the Bagong Filipino industrial compound alongside M. Gregorio road in Barangay Canumay West that was “being utilized as storage of voluminous illegally imported e-cigarettes or vape merchandise with out correct cost of right duties and taxes,” based on Verne Enciso, director of the BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.

Wikimedia Commons / Lindsay Fox

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs confiscated an estimated P1.428 billion price of suspected smuggled digital cigarettes (e-cigarettes) from a warehouse in Valenzuela Metropolis on Oct. 26, the BOC reported yesterday.

After the issuance of a letter of authority from BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, operatives who inspected the warehouse final Oct. 26 discovered “14,000 packing containers that contained an estimated 1.4 million items of 10-milliliter disposable vapes bearing the mark Flava.”

Merrill Opena, operations outsourcing head of the warehouse, obtained the BOC’s letter of authority demanding that the administration current “proof of cost of duties and taxes and different importation paperwork, as wanted, that will cowl the products discovered contained in the warehouse,” the BOC mentioned.

In line with the BOC’s estimates, the 1.4 million vape items bought at P500 per piece might price P700 million. Excise taxes the federal government might acquire might attain P728 million if the premise is the P52 excise tax charged on every milliliter of e-cigarette fluid.

The administration of the warehouse might face fees for violating the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act in the event that they didn’t current paperwork of tax cost, the BOC warned.