PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Philippines — Authorities in Zamboanga City intercepted two motorized vessels loaded with smuggled cigarettes in the waters off Sta. Cruz Island in Zamboanga City on Wednesday afternoon.
Brigadier General Eleazar Matta, Zamboanga Peninsula Police Regional Office director, disclosed that during a seaborne patrol, the operating teams detected two suspicious motorized boats, which they later trapped and were found loaded with 1,532 master cases of assorted cigarettes with an estimated market value amounting to P107.2 million.
The authorities arrested seven crew members who were residents of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga City after they failed to present documents for the cargo.
The smuggled cigarettes were placed under the custody of the police’s 2nd Zamboanga City Mobile Force Company, while the motorized boat and the arrested individuals were turned over to the Zamboanga City Police Station 11 for inquest proceedings. /cb