Lt. Rick Camacho, the Division of Customs’ seaport branch supervisor, and his team brought 307 boxes of luxury cigarettes and six big boxes of signature clothes, accessories and shoes to the landfill at 10:30 a.m.
Camacho estimated that the cigarettes alone were worth $20,000.
The luxury clothes and accessories appeared to be imitations of expensive merchandise sold in local stores.
Camacho said the items were shipped from China and were concealed in container vans when recovered during inspections.
Customs, Camacho said, is certain that the goods were smuggled.
They had to wait until an administrative sanction was executed before they could destroy the items with the acknowledgement of the consignees.
Smugglers, Camacho said, are fined up to $25,000 if caught for the first offense.
Customs inspects all products brought into the island, he added.
