The Bureau of Customs (BOC) confiscated up to P40 million worth of allegedly overpriced and smuggled rice during its separate warehouse raids in Bacoor, Cavite, and Las Piñas City.
The seized overprized rice rice reportedly came from Vietnam, Thailand, and China.
This is in addition to the previous warehouse raid in Zamboanga City, where more than 42,000 sacks of rice with a value of P42 million were confiscated.
According to the BOC, the confiscated smuggled rice was sold for more than P1,000 per kilo sack, or equivalent to almost P53 per kilo in the market.
BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said the P53 price goes beyond the price cap set by the Department of Agriculture (DA), with only P42 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kilo for well-milled rice.
Meanwhile, the warehouse owner was given only 15 days to submit the necessary documents to validate the legality of the rice importation and to find out if they were paying the exact taxes to the government.
