Porac, Pampanga—Nine 40-footer container trucks carrying more than 6,000 master cases of smuggled cigarettes and assorted imported vegetables found their way to Green Leaf 88 Non-Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility for destruction under the supervision of the Bureau of Customs Port of Subic on Friday.
Each container van was loaded with 1,050 master cases of different brands of cigarettes, believed to be counterfeit, while the other container trucks carried several tons of vegetables shipped to Subic Bay Freeport from China.
The contraband was hauled from the Port of Subic warehouse for condemnation following its seizure early this year by BoC personnel.
Green Leaf 88 has three giant electric shredding machines that simultaneously operate to accommodate the huge volume of materials being brought there for destruction, mostly forfeited smuggled perishable and non-perishable goods.
Deputy Commissioner Maita Acevedo, Chief of Cargo Disposal and Auction Division of the BoC Port of Subic, said the contraband are up for disposal on the strength of a court order following forfeiture proceedings against the misdeclared cargo.
Acevedo, who initially declined to talk to the media about the forfeited items, said that all items for destruction had been seized in separate occasions at the Port of Subic this year.
“We are here to supervise the condemnation process and to see to it that all materials brought into the Green leaf 88 waste disposal facility are grinded up to the last particles,” said Acevedo while directing her men to properly make an inventory of the items.
Also present during the condemnation were representatives from the Bureau of Plant Industry – Central Luzon, Japan Tobacco International, and Philip Morris International.
Robert Gaza, owner of Green Leaf 88, said all items brought for destruction are transformed into tiny pieces of materials after they undergo procedures in their machines. He said the waste disposal facility is equipped with technical machines that process vegetables and other perishable items.