P3.8 million worth smuggled cigarettes seized by Navy operatives
Local News • 17:45 PM Sun Mar 28, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
COTABATO CITY --- Navy personnel foiled before dawn Saturday an attempt by boatmen from Sulu to smuggle to Zamboanga City P3.8 million worth of imported cigarettes.
Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said Sunday the operation resulted in the confiscation of 108 cases of cigarettes from the crew of the two small boats now in the custody of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao.
The NFWM has teams guarding round-the-clock the territorial waters of Zamboanga City from terrorists, smugglers and human traffickers.
The two small boats from Sulu carrying the cigarettes with foreign brands, believed to have come from either Malaysia or Indonesia, were intercepted by Navy men on a patrol craft before dawn Saturday.
Six boatmen were arrested and immediately turned over by NFWM to the local police.
All of the 108 boxes of cigarettes that members of the NFWM had seized did not contain drugs according to agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency who used drug-sniffing dogs in inspecting the smuggled merchandise.
Vinluan said they will help build an airtight case against the group behind the bungled smuggling attempt.