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Friday, March 29, 2024

BOC warns public vs extortionists

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The Bureau of Customs on Sunday warned agency stakeholders to be wary of unscrupulous individuals using the agency to extort money.

Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero issued the warning after his men, in coordination with the National Bureau of Investigation, arrested a former Customs employee during an entrapment operation in Malate, Manila.

“We will not tolerate extortion and all forms of corruption in the bureau,” said Guerrero.

The authorities temporarily withheld the name of the suspect, pending the arrest of his accomplices in the follow up operations being conducted by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.

Acting on a complaint lodged via the agency’s 8484 Text Hotline, the CIIS team was able to verify the information and conduct the entrapment operation against the man, who worked in the bureau as a non-contractual handyman in 2016.

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Recovered from the suspect was a marked money used in the entrapment operation.

The suspect’s modus is to enter a negotiation with importers to facilitate the release of suspicious shipments placed by the bureau under alert.

The bureau’s Intelligence Group has invited for questioning a number of brokers, processors and importers who were victimized by the suspects to shed light on the matter.

This was not the first time the agency apprehended individuals engaged in the same modus.

Last year, two men who disguised themselves as Customs officers were arrested in Quezon City for asking half a million pesos purportedly in exchange for the release of the alerted shipments.

Investigation showed that the two suspects were not Customs officers but unscrupulous brokers engaged in extortion.

Commissioner Guerrero said the arrest will also serve as a warning to those officers who unlawfully hold shipments in order to blackmail legitimate businesses and individuals for money.

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