Philippine president inspects smuggled goods seized from Manila mall

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inspected on Monday smuggled goods that were seized last week from a shopping mall in Manila, the local television GMA Network reported.

Bureau of Customs officials, who led the raid at the 168 mall last Thursday, showed Arroyo hundreds of items that were confiscated from stall owners, according to the report.

Philippine customs officials and police raided the 168 mall on March 16 and seized about 100 million pesos (2 million U.S. dollars) of goods allegedly smuggled into the country.

Arroyo, who personally ordered the raid to highlight the crackdown on rampant smuggling activities in the Philippines, said she would "court-martial" smugglers.

Source: Xinhua