GENERAL SANTOS CITY, (PNA) — The city council here is pushing for the establishment of a special enforcement team that will spearhead operations against the alleged rampant smuggling activities at the city’s Makar port.
City Councilor Franklin Gacal Jr., chair of the council’s committee on public order and safety, said he will recommend to City Mayor Ronnel Rivera the immediate creation of the enforcement team as a strategy to help curb the proliferation of smuggled and illegal products in the area.
He pushed for such move following the seizure last week of an illegal shipment of imported used clothing or “ukay-ukay” from Singapore that had entered through the Makar port.
The illegal items, which were concealed in a 40-foot container van supposedly containing blankets and comforters, were initially pegged at around P1 million but later valued to P3.5 million.
Gacal said the proposed enforcement team will mainly be tasked to monitor various cargoes or shipments entering the Makar port.
In coordination with the Bureau of Customs (BoC), he said the team will conduct regular inspections of the cargoes, especially the container shipments that originated abroad.
Gacal said the enforcement team will also run after alleged smugglers who are reportedly operating at the city’s port.
“The team will become sort of a mayor’s squad and will be composed of elite members of the city police,” the official said.
Operatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the police highway patrol group held the container van last Oct. 20 while it was being moved aboard a carrier truck along the national highway in Barangay Labangal.
The carrier truck has just left the Makar port compound when it was apprehended on suspicions that it was carrying some illegal items or contraband.
In September, BoC personnel recovered a shipment of dressed chicken and suckling pigs from Hong Kong that were valued at around P9 million.
The shipment, which was not properly declared based in its accompanying documents, was consigned to a trading firm based in Cebu City.
Last June, CIDG operatives found several imported vehicles from a container van released by port personnel.
The shipment’s contents were cited as assorted car parts and accessories based on its customs declaration and shipping documents.