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Customs looking at methods to dispose of smuggled cigarettes
Mafnas
Customs director Jose C. Mafnas said his office has all but abandoned its plan to have the contraband items incinerated after the Commonwealth Ports Authority quoted them a price of $2-plus per pound.
Using their calculations, Mafnas said it would cost them $25,000 to have the 12,000 cartons of smuggled cigarettes incinerated by CPA. The 12,000 cartons of cigarettes represent the amount of contraband cigarettes they have in their stock room waiting to be disposed.
He said options they’re looking at now is doing the disposal manually again or just loading them all in a dump truck and sending them to the landfill in Marpi.
“The last time we did it manually we opened every carton, took out all the cigarettes, and soaked them all in water. That was just 2,000 cartons and it took us five days to complete. A total of five people worked on that but certain days only two because three had to work on the container,” said Mafnas.
“We need to figure out how we can do it at low cost. Before we go that route (Marpi landfill) we have to check with the [Department of Public Works] secretary for final approval,” he added.
Last Nov. 15, Customs seized more than 1,000 cartons of cigarettes loaded inside a 20-foot container from the Philippines after the importer failed to declare the items. The container also included over 200 cases of liquor that were mislabeled and were also confiscated by Customs agents.
