More than 160 containers illegally released at Mindanao Container Terminal —BOC

Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Isidro Lapeña on Wednesday disclosed that a total of 169 containers have been illegally released by the ‘swing operation’ beginning January to June at the Mindanao Container Terminal (MTC).

"I would not have known of this smuggling scheme if not for the issuance of alert orders on the 25 containers. What these players don’t know is that there are people from the ground who are giving me tips prompting me to issue alert orders on these shipments,” Lapeña said.

Lapeña believed that "unscrupulous players" in the port have cohorts inside the Customs agency.

He already relieved 11 BOC officials from their posts while five BOC-Port of Cagayan de Oro officials have been administratively charged and preventively suspended.

"We are getting to the bottom of this and we will not stop until the mastermind of this swing modus is apprehended and charged before the court,” he said. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KG, GMA News