Teno orders customs to step up monitoring
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday said that customs officers who were found aiding individuals to bring in smuggled goods into CNMI should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and warned government employees that he would not tolerate such misconduct in public office.
The governor issued the stern warning after four Korean nationals have been charged by the Attorney General’s Office with violations of customs law after they attempted to bring in close to 2,000 cartons of undeclared cigarettes with the help of customs officers.
The four, identified as Chan Ho Park, Hyun Chol Cho, Keun Ja Hwang and Moon Ho Kim, were arrested Saturday, and authorities said they have gathered evidences for possible payoff to facilitate the release of the merchandise without charging the corresponding taxes.
Some local officials do not rule out that the four could be part of a smuggling syndicate, as the CNMI leader ordered customs officials to step up monitoring of cargoes coming into the Northern Marianas.
“The government will not tolerate those kind of things,” Tenorio said. “They have to stop it right away.”
According to the governor, there is a possibility that the suspects were part of a smuggling ring operating in the Commonwealth and were in connivance with some government employees. “I have asked the customs director to work closely with the AG in investigating these matters…The employees must understand that they must stop this.”
Some local officialas have complained in the past that lack of personnel to man the customs inspection section could be partly blame for the entry of smuggled goods into the Northern Marianas.
