The donation certificate handed over to the school’s representative by the BOC officers , Tuesday coincides with the last day activity which isthe Customs Displays and Public Education- which was held at the Palau Community College (PCC) parking lot.
The BGH Elementary School has 13 students most of whom cannot afford to buy their lunch. The grant from the BOC will be used by the school to provide food for the less- fortunate students.
The BOC is donating money yearly to the BGH Elementary School as a part of its celebration of the International Customs Day.
More than 50 students of the GBH Elementary School attended the program and enjoyed watching BOC personnel while demonstrating on how they inspect mails from the Post office using the K-9 dog.
The K-9 dog is used by the BOC to determine if some illegal substances kept inside the mails and to prevent it from being smuggled into the Republic.
Also displayed during the event, are smuggled items confiscated by the bureau at the airport and seaport. Some of these item were: cigarettes, dangerous weapons, counterfeit money, beauty products and assorted medicines without doctor’s prescription.
The BOC personnel, however, explained that 80 percent of the confiscated items were legal but considered as illegal because of lack of documents presented by the owners. For the cigarettes, only one box is allowed to be brought to the country by each passenger at the airport.
In excess of that a $2 tax will be imposed.
The Customs however said that passengers who bring in items in excess of the allowed goods prefer to surrender the products rather than paying the taxes.
Most of the items confiscated are from the Philippines, China and Taiwan.
