The Bureau of Customs (BoC) reported on Sunday that its operatives seized over P72 billion worth of smuggled goods from January to October 2024, surpassing its previous year’s record.

This comes as the BoC attended the Inter-Agency Intelligence Summit on 16 October in Batangas where agency leaders reported to attendees — including Department of Finance (DoF) Secretary Ralph Recto — that the BoC’s 1,414 operations in the first three quarters of 2024 yielded P72.091 billion in recovered smuggled goods.

In October alone, the BoC seized P3.09 billion worth of smuggled goods, including various commodities, cigarettes and a vessel carrying smuggled petroleum products.

Additionally, P42.16 million worth of illegal drugs was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and P323 million worth of smuggled sacks of rice was seized.

The BoC stressed that it will continue to achieve significant results in the coming years, highlighting the record-breaking accomplishments so far this year.

“This proves that our combined efforts are not only effective but essential in combating smuggling and other illicit activities,” said the BoC. “In the face of increasingly complex threats, we must stand united.”

Meantime, deputy commissioner for Intelligence Group Juvymax Uy stressed the importance of the intelligence summit in fostering collaboration among key government agencies.

“The accumulation of knowledge and experience in intelligence operations through activities like this Intelligence Summit would enable us all to achieve an excellent resolution for dealing with trade facilitation, border protection and all other customs cooperation programs,” Uy said.

“May we maintain the partnership we have established and further strengthen the collaboration as may be necessitated by the circumstances,” he added.