Cebu customs gets three new patrol boats to fight smugglers

THREE new littoral patrol boats will be used to beef up the Bureau of Customs-Port of Cebu's fight against the smuggling of illegal drugs and other products in the waters of Central Visayas.

Reports in Manila Times said the deployment of the three fast craft was in anticipation of attempts to use the coast to bring in undocumented goods from abroad, now that the bureau was more advanced in its anti-smuggling protocols.

Lawyer Charlito Martin Mendoza, BoC-Cebu collector, said over the last two years, they have been updating their surveillance and detection protocols and technology on-land.

"We have new X-ray and detection machines, improved profiling of shipments and deployment of K9 patrol units in our container yards and warehouses," Mendoza said in his speech during the blessing of the patrol boats recently.

He said the tightened on-land protocols coupled with personnel skills training led them to "anticipate that smugglers would resort more to on-sea attempts, especially for illegal drugs and environmental products."

Mendoza said the Customs police of the Enforcement and Security Service, agents of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, and boarding officers of the Port Operations Division can now quickly chase and intercept smugglers' vessels.

He thanked Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero for "understanding the dangers" of the job by personnel involved border security operations.

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