The Customs crackdown continues. The news this evening is that a search of a suspicious container has turned up a massive cargo of counterfeit cigarettes. It is a 40 foot container came from China and was destined for a company called Para Castillo Limited. When Customs were unable to reach the principals of the company, they opened the container at 4:45 this evening. It was described by the shipper as trolley luggage, but it turned out to be 855 boxes of fake Marlboro's valued at about $4 million. It may not be as glamorous or as expensive as the pseudo-ephedrine found yesterday but this intercepted shipment of Marlboro's was valued at about $4 million. The discovery was made late this evening and Jacqueline Godwin found out more.
Colin Griffith, Customs Collector
"It is the indication that the kind of enforcement measures that the Customs Department has put in place, again it is a shipment that has been there at the Port from 8th September. Communication was made to the broker in Corozal and they assured us that an entry was with the Corozal Free Zone. A call was
made to the Corozal Free Zone who communicated to us that there was no entry for this company Para Castillo. We then decided to bring the container across and open it. It was manifested to contain luggage and upon opening the container we found that it contained counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes with a single market value of $4 million.
No declaration was made to Customs and the investigation will continue to communicate with the Corozal free Zone. We know from the list of companies we have in the Free Zone that it belonged to a group of Mexicans and we will see how we can communicate with them in regards to this shipment."
Customs now has 4 containers with fake cigarettes to destroy. And while the counterfeit cigarettes is a major find, the pseudo-ephedrine is the thing. Though searches continued, no new finds were made. Two more suspect containers were searched today, one was clean, the other contained the fake cigarettes.
