JOINT police and Bureau of Customs (BOC) operatives have arrested three people and seized P2.4 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga City, the police reported Friday, July 29.

Police Colonel Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao, said that Ladimar Abdul Bauddin, 33; Asari Ebbah, 23; and Abdul Naser Hamjadi, 23, were arrested around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 28, near Manlipa Island.

Verceles said the joint police and BOC personnel were on seaborne patrol when they spotted a motorboat manned by the three suspects.

Verceles said that upon inspection, the motorboat was loaded with 68 master and 49 reams of undocumented cigarettes worth P2.4 million.

He said the smuggled cigarettes came from Jolo, Sulu en route to municipality of Ipil, the capital town of Zamboanga Sibugay.

He said the three arrested persons, motorboat, and smuggled cigarettes were turned over to the custody of the BOC for proper disposition. (SunStar Zamboanga)