Manila, July 25 -- Four individuals in two separate smuggling cases involving the illegal importation of cigarettes and vehicles in 2021 have been convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Manila, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said in a news release on Saturday.

In a statement, the Bureau said in the first case, the court convicted an individual who used YJC International Corporation as a consignee-for-hire in the unlawful importation of two 40-foot containers from China, falsely declared to contain plastic products that arrived on Jan. 3, 2021.

Upon physical examination, Customs authorities discovered 1,599 cartons of cigarettes concealed among the declared goods without the required import commodity clearances.

The accused was sentenc...