GOVERNMENT operatives have intercepted a shipment of more than P5 million worth of smuggled cigarettes and arrested seven persons last weekend off Zamboanga City, the police reported.
Police Brigadier General Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula director, said the shipment was intercepted by joint personnel of the 2nd Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company and Bureau of Customs (BOC) around 3 a.m. Saturday southwest of Sta. Cruz Island, Zamboanga City.
Ylagan said the team conducted a seaborne patrol after receiving information that a shipment of smuggled cigarettes is set to arrive early Saturday in the city coming from the province of Sulu.
Ylagan said the team chanced upon a “jungkong” type of watercraft marked MJ “Al-Hafidz” manned by a seven-man crew and loaded with some 145 master cases of undocumented cigarettes worth P5,075,000.
He identified the arrested seven-man crew of MJ Al-Hafidz as Nurullaji Alhari, the skipper; Annie Jammang, 27; Matli Hajirin, 36; Jamar Alhari, 27; Mahadel Munong, 31; Abdulhalik Mangkabong, 50; and Sakur Jarani, all residents of Omar, Sulu.
He said the confiscated contraband and crew members were properly turned over to BOC for proper disposition. (SunStar Zamboanga)