AUTHORITIES have seized some P350,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes in an intelligence-driven anti-smuggling operation in Zamboanga City, the police reported Sunday, September 4, 2022.
Police Colonel Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao, said the contrabands were seized around 3 a.m. Sunday, September 4, in the mangrove area of Talon-Talon village, Zamboanga City.
Verceles said the joint police and Bureau of Customs (BOC) personnel were on an intelligence-driven anti-smuggling operation when they sighted a canoe loaded with cigarettes approaching the shore of Talon-Talon village.
However, Verceles said that the unidentified person paddling the canoe jumped into the sea and escaped leaving the canoe behind.
He said the joint police and BOC team recovered the canoe which was loaded with 10 master cases of Fort cigarettes worth P350,000.
He said the canoe and the seized smuggled cigarettes were turned over to the BOC for proper disposition. (SunStar Zamboanga)