BALAGTAS, Bulacan — A total of nine warehouses were raided by the Bureau of Customs (BoC) in this province on Monday evening, resulting in the confiscation of thousands of sacks of import rice from Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand.

The BoC’s Intelligence Group-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Manila International Container Port, along with the Philippine Coast Guard and the Department of Agriculture, conducted the raid.

The raid is part of the order of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that aims to thwart smuggling in the country, especially the smuggling of agricultural products.

According to Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service chief Alvin Enciso, the rice was made to look like local rice, but were actually smuggled rice that were mixed with locally made rice. He added that the warehouse owners could not show import permits.

The said rice were sold to the market at a high price despite the warehouse owners buying the said rice at a cheap price. In one of the warehouses, the thousands of sacks of rice were estimated to have a value of P500 million, and were found to have no legal documents.

The BoC cited that they were conducting surveillance in the area after a tip that these warehouses were illegally storing large number of smuggled rice. By virtue of a Letter of Authority from the BoC, the CIIS led by Director Vernie Enciso, raided the warehouses.

The confiscated rice will be subjected to investigation and analysis, ensuring that the rice is actually consumable, and would be given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development or the National Food Authority to be sold for a lower price.

The BoC aims to file cases to the warehouse owners of the confiscated rice for violating the Tariff and Customs Act.