GOVERNMENT operatives have seized another shipment of smuggled cigarettes worth P2.9 million east of Zamboanga City, a top police official announced.
The shipment was seized early Tuesday, July 27, 2021, less than an hour after joint police and military operatives intercepted a shipment of some P8 million worth of smuggled cigarettes on the same day.
Police Brigadier General Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula director, said the P2.9 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized around 3 a.m. Tuesday near Manalipa Island, one of the 11 islands, east of Zamboanga City.
Ylagan said the joint team of the 2nd Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company and Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel were conducting seaborn patrol when they chanced upon a Jungkong-type motorboat named MF/V Natasha sailing to Manalipa Island coming from nearby Basilan province.
He said the motorboat manned by a four-man crew was found to be loaded with 85 master cases of undocumented assorted cigarettes with an estimated market value of P2,975,000.
Ylagan said the confiscated smuggled cigarettes consisted of the following: San Marino, 47 cases; Forth White, 10; Green Hill, five; Cannon, 20; and Astro Red, three.
He identified the four crewmen of MF/V Natasha as follows: Abdulnasser Ammang, 28; Saik Majaji, 33; Omar Sairulla, 38; and Parsin Imamil.
Ylagan said the confiscated cargo, as well as the watercraft and its crew were turned over to the BOC for proper disposition.
Around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, July 27, joint police and Task Force Zamboanga operatives intercepted an eight-wheeler cargo van loaded with some P8 million worth of smuggled cigarettes while manning a fixed checkpoint in Divisoria village, 6.2 kilometers east of City Hall.
The cargo van was traveling towards the east coast coming from the city proper when flagged down at the checkpoint. (SunStar Zamboanga)