MANILA - Two packages containing $13,500 (over P650,000) in undeclared currency were intercepted at a shipping warehouse on October 30, the Bureau of Customs at the Port of NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) said Saturday.

In a statement, the BOC said the packages arrived on Oct. 23 and 29 and were both misdeclared as “correspondence/no value."

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Both were sent by the same sender from Jefferson City, USA and consigned to the same person from Poblacion, Muntinlupa CIty.

Based on physical examination, the first package contained 75 pieces of $100 bills, while the second package had 150 pieces of $20 bills, 20 pieces of $50 bills, and 20 pieces of $100 bills.

The BOC NAIA said the seized foreign currencies shall be subjected to seizure and forfeiture proceedings in violation of the law requiring proper declaration of shipments.

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Last September, the BOC NAIA office intercepted $8,000 concealed in the pages of a magazine.

In total, the BOC NAIA port has intercepted a total of $31,200 or equivalent to over P1.5 million in misdeclared cash concealed in packages this year.

BOC NAIA reminds the public that under the BSP Manual of Foreign Exchange Transactions, a person importing currency simply needs to declare the amount intended to be imported using the prescribed Foreign Currency Declaration Form.

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