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AUTHORITIES have arrested two people and seized some P16.6 million shipment worth of contraband in an anti-smuggling operation in Zamboanga City, the police said Sunday, August 25, 2024.
The Police Regional Office (PRO)-Zamboanga Peninsula did not release the identities of the two arrested persons except to say they are aged 37 and 50 and all males.
The PRO-Zamboanga Peninsula said they were arrested by joint personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Regional Intelligence Division (RID)-Zamboanga Peninsula in anti-smuggling operations around 7 a.m. Thursday, August 22, at the port of Zamboanga City.
The joint team seized some 290 master cases of assorted smuggled cigarettes worth P16,617,000.
The police said the smuggled cigarettes were concealed in a cargo vehicle aboard a passenger and cargo vessel that arrived at the port of Zamboanga City coming from Jolo, Sulu.
The two arrested suspects were taken to Zamboanga City Maritime Police Station for proper disposition and the filing of appropriate charges.
The confiscated smuggled cigarettes and the vehicle remained in the custody of the Bureau of Customs-Port of Zamboanga.
Police Brigadier General Bowenn Joey Masauding, PRO-Zamboanga Peninsula director, lauded the personnel of BOC and RID-Zamboanga Peninsula for the successful interception of more than P16 million worth of smuggled cigarettes.
“Kasama ng Bureau of Customs ang PRO 9 sapagsugpo ng smuggling activities sa Zamboanga Peninsula. (The PRO-Zamboanga Peninsula is together with the Bureau of Customs in suppressing smuggling activities in the Zamboanga Peninsula),” Masauding said. (SunStar Zamboanga)