ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Combined Navy and Marine troops have intercepted four vessels, including a Vietnamese ship, loaded with more than P100-million worth of smuggled imported rice offshore Sulu waters, the military reported Monday.
Captain Ma. Rowena Muyuela, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) information officer, said the four vessels were intercepted around 3:25 a.m. Monday near Pata Island, Sulu.
Muyuela said the vessels were loaded with 131,000 sacks of 25 kilos each or 3,275 metric tons of imported rice with an estimated market value of P104.8 million.
At the same time, Muyuela said the troops have seized high-powered firearms consisting of seven M-14 rifles and five M-16 Armalite rifles, including two with attached M-203 grenade launchers.
She said that 116,000 of the 131,000 sacks of imported rice were seized aboard a Vietnamese vessel named M/V An Bien-89-ACLI and skippered by Nguyen Van Loi with 16 Vietnamese crewmen.
The remaining 15,000 sacks of imported rice were seized aboard three locally-owned vessels, namely: M/L KH with 11 crews and 79 laborers, 7,000 sacks; M/L Fatima Nurmina with 12 crews and 55 laborers, 1,000 sacks; and, M/L Boy-I manned by seven crewmen, 7,000 sacks.
The troops under the Joint Task Group Sulu were on seaborne patrol when they intercepted the four vessels west of Pata Island, Sulu.
Muyuela said that one of the seven M-14 rifles and one M-16 rifle with attached M-203 grenade launcher were seized aboard M/L Fatima Nurmina, and the remaining six M-14 rifles and four M-16 rifles, including one with attached M-203 grenade launchers, aboard M/L Boy-I.
The four vessels, escorted by the Joint Task Group Sulu troops, are expected to arrive in Zamboanga City. (Sunnex)