Flight attendants of Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines are in trouble for trying to smuggle onions they bought in bulk in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Crew members manning PAL’s Riyadh-Manila and Dubai-Manila route are reportedly being investigated for attempted agricultural smuggling, the Philippine Star reported.
The flight crew were caught transporting 40 kilos of fruits as well as onions, the cost of which has soared past P500 a kilo.
The goods were intercepted and confiscated by Customs employees in NAIA.
“After physical examination, the customs examiners found assorted agricultural products and referred the same to the plant quarantine officer Celeste Barrios of the Bureau of Plant Industry, who… confiscated the goods for proper disposal,” a BOC memorandum read.
Rather than save a few hundred pesos for onions, the crew members could face penalties or even complaints for violating the Plant Quarantine Law of 1978 for importing without a phytosanitary certificate, Presidential Decree 1433 for the lack of a plant quarantine clearance and Section 1404 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act for failure to declare fresh produce in their baggage.