Government agents have seized more packages from the United States containing foreign currency equivalent to P1.8 million at a Customs bonded warehouse near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The packages, which came from a certain “Jacqualine Paas”, arrived at the Federal Express warehouse on Nov. 2 and was consigned to a resident of Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City.
Port of NAIA district collector Carmelita Talusan said the owner declared the shipment as “documents” but her men assigned to the Customs bonded warehouses placed the shipments under examination and discovered the $38,700 cash concealed in magazines.
“Just last week, our men similarly intercepted $13,500 in undeclared foreign currencies,” said Talusan. She added the packages were also consigned to a resident in Poblacion, Muntinlupa.
Two months ago, Talusan’s men also intercepted a package with $8,000 in $50 and $100 bills concealed between the pages of a cooking magazine.
The package was declared as “correspondence” from New Jersey and consigned to a resident of San Pedro in Laguna.
The latest apprehension brings to more than P29 million worth of transported foreign currencies that were seized by the Port of NAIA this year.
“Concealment of cash in cargo and mail was identified as one of the techniques in money laundering based on the 2015 report of the Financial Action Task Force,” Talusan said.
Talusan advised the public to refrain from attempts to engage in similar fraudulent schemes as the BSP Manual of Foreign Exchange Transaction simply requires the faithful declaration and accomplishment of Foreign Currency Declaration Forms for the importation and exportation of foreign currency in excess of $10,000 or its equivalent.