The Bureau of Customs confiscates boxes of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga City. | Photo from BOC
MANILA, Philippines — Smuggled cigarettes worth P7.3 million were confiscated by agents of the Bureau of Customs-Port of Zamboanga (BOC-POZ) in a watercraft, locally known as a junkung, along the waters of Zamboanga City.
The agency in a statement said that agents of BOC-POZ in coordination with Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company, Tactical Operations Wing Western Mindanao, and the Philippine Air Force, intercepted the jungkung marked as “FB Hayarana” during a maritime patrol operation along the waters of Barangay Manalipa, Zamboanga City on Saturday.
The said joint forces upon inspection discovered that it was loaded with 203 master cases and 66 reams of assorted cigarettes.
All six of its crew members then failed to present documents that prove the regularity of the cigarettes’ importation and subsequent transport to Zamboanga City.
BOC said that the vessel and its contents are now under its custody for proper disposition in violation of Section 1113 (a) of Republic Act 10863, or the “Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) of 2016 in relation to Section 117 and “Tobacco Exportation and Importation Rules and Regulations.”
According to District Collector Arthur Sevilla Jr. the strengthened maritime operations is part of the BOC-POZ’s commitment to prevent smuggling in the Zambalsulta (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) region.