Syndicate eyed in foiled jewelry smuggling

 By:WILLIAM DEPASUPIL

THE foiled attempt to smuggle into the country 24 kilos of assorted jewelry worth at least P80 million could be the handiwork of a syndicate that has long been operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), according to a highly reliable source at the Bureau of Customs (BoC).

"It is not the first time that it happened. It was a smuggling operation gone awry. Jewelry smuggling is just one of the many similar smuggling operations happening at the NAIA," the source told The Manila Times on Sunday.

Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz has already ordered a deeper investigation into the incident.

The source explained that jewelry smuggling is "very easy," and is usually done by buy-and-sell businessmen.

"These businessmen are in connivance with customs personnel who meet them upon their arrival, then get their bags containing the jewelry so that they will not be inspected anymore at the customs inspection area," the source said.

 

In the PAL incident, he expressed belief that the jewelry stashed inside the lavatory were supposed to be picked up by their inside contact or contacts after the passengers have disembarked.

"Only customs and immigration personnel have access to the planes coming from abroad. The planes are subjected to inspection," he pointed out.

All aircraft coming from abroad are subjected to inspection by a boarding team from the the BoC and the Bureau of Immigration.

Asked what went wrong, the source explained that "there might have been some miscommunications or some people privy to the plan to smuggle the jewelry might have been left out of the deal."

The smuggled jewelry were found inside the lavatory of a Philippine Airlines (PAL) plane that arrived at the NAIA from Hong Kong on November 17.

Customs Customs Boarding Inspector from the Aircraft Operations Division discovered the jewelry pieces during boarding formalities on the airplane, which arrived at NAIA Terminal 2.

Ruiz said that part of the investigation is to determine if some of the PAL flight crew were involved in the attempted smuggling, as well the assigned cleaners and catering service of the aircraft.

 THE foiled attempt to smuggle into the country 24 kilos of assorted jewelry worth at least P80 million could be the handiwork of a syndicate that has long been operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), according to a highly reliable source at the Bureau of Customs (BoC).

"It is not the first time that it happened. It was a smuggling operation gone awry. Jewelry smuggling is just one of the many similar smuggling operations happening at the NAIA," the source told The Manila Times on Sunday.

Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz has already ordered a deeper investigation into the incident.

The source explained that jewelry smuggling is "very easy," and is usually done by buy-and-sell businessmen.

"These businessmen are in connivance with customs personnel who meet them upon their arrival, then get their bags containing the jewelry so that they will not be inspected anymore at the customs inspection area," the source said.

 

In the PAL incident, he expressed belief that the jewelry stashed inside the lavatory were supposed to be picked up by their inside contact or contacts after the passengers have disembarked.

"Only customs and immigration personnel have access to the planes coming from abroad. The planes are subjected to inspection," he pointed out.

All aircraft coming from abroad are subjected to inspection by a boarding team from the the BoC and the Bureau of Immigration.

Asked what went wrong, the source explained that "there might have been some miscommunications or some people privy to the plan to smuggle the jewelry might have been left out of the deal."

The smuggled jewelry were found inside the lavatory of a Philippine Airlines (PAL) plane that arrived at the NAIA from Hong Kong on November 17.

Customs Customs Boarding Inspector from the Aircraft Operations Division discovered the jewelry pieces during boarding formalities on the airplane, which arrived at NAIA Terminal 2.

Ruiz said that part of the investigation is to determine if some of the PAL flight crew were involved in the attempted smuggling, as well the assigned cleaners and catering service of the aircraft.