Illegal fish import sweep nets Chinese national, 4 Pinoys

Law enforcement officers arrested five people, including a Chinese national, and seized more than P1 million worth of smuggled frozen mackerel during a raid on a cold storage facility recently.

Joint operatives from the Northern Police District, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Agriculture Inspectorate and Enforcement, and Caloocan City Police raided Ocean Fish Cold Storage Realty Corp. on C-4 Road in Barangay 8 at about 6 p.m.

The raid was conducted under a search warrant issued by Judge Rosalia Hipolito-Bunagan of Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 232.

Police identified the arrested suspects as compound supervisor Hui, a Chinese national, and four Filipino workers — maintenance crew members Eubert, Justine, and John Lloyd, alongside delivery driver Antonio.

The primary subject of the warrant, a Chinese national identified only by the alias Kai, was not present during the operation.

Inside the facility, authorities confiscated 755 boxes of imported frozen Pacific mackerel from China valued at P1,057,000, along with a wing van allegedly used to transport the illegal cargo.