ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Combined security forces intercepted an estimated 15,000 sacks of smuggled rice worth P10.5 million which reportedly came from Malaysia.
Local authorities said the smuggled rice was discovered when two mini-trucks and a close van were intercepted in Barangay Magsaysay in a coastal village of R.T Lim town, Zamboanga Sibugay province last Thursday.
The local police of R.T Lim town, backed by the Provincial Public Safety Company and 7th Special Forces Company, traced that the smuggled rice were unloaded from M/L Shaida based in Tawi-Tawi then anchored off Barangay Magsaysay.
Based on the reports of Police Inspector Jimmy Albert Decin, police chief of R.T Lim town, the sacks of rice were slipped through motorboats and stocked in a secluded shore. The smugglers discretely loaded the sacks onto the closed container van and two mini-trucks.
Local government officials from Tungawan and R.T Lim town have initially accounted about 15,000 sacks of rice in 25 kilos each with an estimated market value of P10.5 million.
Based on the joint accounting of the police and the Bureau of Customs (BoC), there were only 736 sacks of smuggled rice seized from the three trucks.
Joint accounting will be conducted Monday on the remaining smuggled rice seized aboard the M/L Shaida.