P15.8-M smuggled cigarettes seized in Zamboanga City

COTABATO CITY — Combined personnel of different police units in region 9 seized P15.8 million worth of cigarettes in a seaborne anti-smuggling operation a few miles off Manalipa Island in Zamboanga City on Friday night.

Brig. Gen. Eleazar P. Matta, director of the Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9), told reporters on Sunday, that 226 large boxes of cigarettes from Indonesia seized during the operation are now in their custody, to be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its proper disposition.

A wooden boat, carrying the boxes, was headed to buyers in Manalipa Island and in beachfront areas in Zamboanga City when it was intercepted by combined personnel of the Zamboanga City Maritime Police, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the Regional Intelligence Division of PRO-9 and other units under Mr. Matta’s control.

“We are thankful to the tipsters who provided information about the supposed delivery of the smuggled cigarettes to certain areas under our jurisdiction,” Mr. Matta said.

Besides the P15.8 million worth cigarettes, the composite police team involved in the operation also found in the cabin of the boat’s captain two unlicensed caliber .30 M1 Garand rifles.

Mr. Matta said the crew of the impounded boat, immediately towed to a seaside police detachment, are now detained, undergoing procedural interrogation.

They have reportedly assured police investigators to identify the traders behind the foiled smuggling attempt. — John Felix M. Unson