P9.6M worth of smuggled cigarettes intercepted in Zamboanga City

Photo from Bureau of Customs

MANILA, Philippines — Some P9.6 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were intercepted off the waters of Manalipa in Zamboanga City, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported Friday.

The bureau said a total of 275 master cases and 32 reams of Fort White Cigarettes with an estimated total value of more than P9.6 million were recovered inside a motorized wooden watercraft marked “FB JAMAIKA” during a joint operation on June 21.

Also inside the watercraft were 10 crew members who came from Jolo in Sulu and were bound to Cotabato City, BOC said.

The joint operation was conducted by the bureau’s Enforcement and Security Service and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service units.

The bureau said the seized watercraft and the master cases of cigarettes are now under their custody for proper disposition for violating the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016 and the Tobacco Exportation and Importation Rules and Regulations.

The Port of Zamboanga apprehended over P153 million worth of smuggled goods from January to June 2022 and condemned P110 million worth of cigarettes in April 2022, according to District Collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Z. Barte Jr.

Barte said that the BOC and other law enforcement agencies would continue intensifying border control against smuggling and other customs fraud. – Xander Dave Ceballos, trainee 

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