P16-M worth of imported cigarettes seized in Zamboanga City

COTABATO CITY — Policemen and agents of the Bureau of Customs foiled an attempt by smugglers to deliver in Zamboanga City from Sulu of P16 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia.

Radio reports here on Sunday quoted Brig. Gen. Bowenn Joey Masauding, director of the Police Regional Office-9, as saying that personnel of units under him and BOC employees seized the contraband on Thursday. These were piled inside a van-type truck that has just moved out then from a roll on, roll off type vessel from Sulu that docked at the Zamboanga City Port.

The law-enforcement team involved in the operation found inside the truck that they flagged down 281 large boxes containing cigarettes with Indonesian brands, amounting to P16 million, covered with other cargoes as concealment.

Masauding said the operation that led to the successful interception of the smuggled cigarettes was premised on tips by confidential informants. These include businessmen, supporting the government’s campaign against the entry into mainland Mindanao of cigarettes from Indonesia via the territorial seas of the southern Sulu and Tawi-Tawi island provinces.