House News: NOGRALES EYES INSIDE JOB IN CUSTOMS FUEL PILFERAGE, SEEKS CONGRESS INVESTIGATION Davao City Congressman Karlo Alexei Nograles today expressed belief that the mysterious switching of the seized diesel to water while being stored right inside a Bureau of Customs (BOC) facility is just a tip of the iceberg of deeper and more intricate pilferage operation perpetrated by a well-entrenched and well-networked syndicate in the bureau. According to Nograles, this incident should prompt BOC Commissioner John Sevilla to conduct a sweeping internal probe within the bureau as it is nearly impossible to carry out a pilferage of 135 drums of diesel equivalent to more than 28,000 liters without the help of a “bureau insider.” Nograles said he would also file a resolution calling for a congressional probe on the diesel pilferage incident at the BOC. “How can anyone sneak inside a secure storage facility, steal nearly 29,000 liters of diesel and get away undetected? This is definitely an inside job,” Nograles said. “If they can steal seized items such as these hard-to-transport contraband, what more with seized items that are portable and easily concealable such as garments and mobile phones? I heard a lot of stories about cellular phones and other dry goods that were seized by the BOC but are being resold in the black market,” he added. Nograles said that this incident is certainly not the first, and possibly not the last if the BOC leadership would not give extra attention to get to the bottom of these nefarious activities inside the BOC. And until the BOC could show proof that it has cracked the case and brought behind bars the people responsible, Nograles said that scalawags and misfits inside the bureau will continue to sabotage Commissioner Sevilla’s effort to reform the bureau. According to reports, 135 drums of seized diesel fuel stored at the BOC-Port of Clark (POC) have been pilfered and replaced with water. What is puzzling according to Nograles is that the POC discovered last April that 65 of the 156 drums were replaced with water and sludge prompting them to transfer the drums to a warehouse of a privately-owned Customs Clearance Area for closer monitoring only to discover two months later that 50 more barrels of diesel were again replaced with water.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 12:03:26 +0000
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