By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE two container vans of scrap metal which, according to the Division of Customs Services were shipped out of the CNMI with fraudulent documents last month, are now back at the Saipan sea port.
The cargo ship Hamburg arrived at 3 p.m. yesterday from Hong Kong but the two containers, which are subject to re-inspection, were still on the ship at press time, according to acting Customs Director Gregorio Sablan Jr.
As soon as they are unloaded from the ship, the container vans will be moved to the Customs inspection yard, but Sablan could not say when exactly they would be inspected.
He said until they have prepared the equipment and manpower and “necessary papers” to open them, the containers are going to remain in the yard.
“We are trying to do everything right and make sure everything needed is in place,” he said.
Sablan said they had the two container vans shipped back to Saipan because the documents pertaining to the shipment were found be “fraudulent.”
He said they were told that some of the information the recycling firm provided on the bill of lading was not consistent with the packing list.
The bill of lading, he said, declared an aluminum shipment but the container vans contained something else.
The weight of the container vans, he said, was also determined not to match what was indicated on the bill of lading.
Customs recovered over 2,000 pounds of undeclared copper wire from a container van that the Triple Star Recycling firm tried to ship out last month as the agency started inspecting outbound shipment of scrap metal in compliance with Public Law 15-55 in light of the rampant copper wire thefts on the islands.
The two container vans that arrived yesterday left Saipan at a time when Customs and other agencies were busy drafting the rules to implement laws on scrap metal shipments.