AUTHORITIES have intercepted three wooden-hulled ferry boats loaded with smuggled rice worth millions of pesos off Zamboanga City, an official said Monday, September 24.
The three vessels were intercepted around 6:50 p.m. Saturday, September 22, near the shore of Barangay Baliwasan, said Lieutenant Commander Noriel Ramos, Zamboanga Coast Guard station commander.
Ramos said the apprehending team was composed of personnel from the Coast Guard Southwestern Mindanao District, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, military, and police.
The lawmen were aboard two Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats of the Coast Guard conducting a seaborne patrol when they intercepted the three wooden-hulled vessels loaded with rice.
The vessels -- M/V Aizalyn 3, M/L Jasmin Michael and M/L Habiba -- all had Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, as homeport.
Ramos said the vessels were each loaded with sacks of rice (50 kilos each sack) believed to have come from Malaysia.
He said they have yet to conduct an inventory together with the Bureau of Customs to determine the exact volume of cargo aboard the three vessels. (SunStar Philippines)