BOC seizes tax-free diesel fuel

The partnership between the Philippine government and the oil industry to weed out smuggled fuel away in the marketplace bore fruit with the forfeiture of 954.5 liters of imported diesel fuel diverted outside the Clark Freeport. The diesel fuel was imported tax- and duty-free on condition that it was to be sold only within the free port zone. Authorities seized the shipment for non-payment of duties, taxes and other charges. The origin of the fuel was traced because it had previously been invisibly marked at the time of entry into the country by Société Générale de Surveillance(SGS), the service provider appointed by the Department of Finance under the department’s fuel marking program. During a sampling exercise by Bureau of Customs (BOC) operatives, marked diesel fuel was found in the San Simon (Pampanga) outlet of Gas Mass Station, which had no authority to possess such fuel. (September 6, 2009)