BANGKOK: The Customs officials at Laem Chabang deep-sea port have seized 96 tonnes of orange worth about four million baht from Spain and Egypt which were falsely declared of originating from China to evade import taxes.
The citrus fruits were found in seven containers belonging to Nine Enterprise and Trading Limited Partnership and Watchamon Company.
Customs officials said that the fruits were declared to originate from China which will exempt the two importers from paying import taxes under the Free Trade Area agreement between Thailand and China.
However, it was discovered that the seven containers of orange actually come from Spain and Egypt. Customs officials said that the two importers would be charged 30 percent import taxes for the 96 tonnes of orange.
Customs Department chief Kulis Sombatsiri said that officials would look back into the record of previous orange imports by the two firms to find out whether they had cheated in falsifying the origin of the orange they imported into the country. He also said that the two firms might be blacklisted.
