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Some P25 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized by the Bureau of Customs’ Water Patrol Division from a wooden motorized boat off the coast of Sta. Cruz Island, Zamboanga City
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The vessel’s 11-man crew failed to provide importation documents for the goods onboard
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The crew are now being interrogated while the boat and the contraband are in the custody of the BOC for inventory and proper disposition
Smuggled cigarettes worth about P25 million were seized on December 8 by the Bureau of Customs’ Water Patrol Division (WPD) off the coast of Sta. Cruz Island, Zamboanga City.
Elements of the BOC-Port of Zamboanga WPD and the Enforcement and Security Service-Customs Police Division (ESS-CPD) found the contraband when they intercepted a wooden motorized vessel during patrol around Sta. Cruz Island.
BOC said 707 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth P25 million were found on board the vessel M/L Paris. The boat came from Pangutaran in Jolo, Sulu, and was sailing to Baliwasan in Zamboanga City.
The vessel’s 11-man crew failed to provide importation documents for the cigarettes, BOC said in a statement. They are now undergoing interrogation and profiling.
The vessel and the contraband, meanwhile, were placed in the custody of BOC for inventory and proper disposition for violating Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, in relation to Section 117 and the Tobacco Exportation and Importation Rules and Regulations.
BOC had earlier acquired 20 fast patrol boats for boarding formalities, patrol, and water pursuits within the nation’s borders. Part of BOC’s 10-point priority program in 2021 was to reactivate the WPD and deploy additional personnel to conduct border patrol, and to procure water patrol boats, surveillance equipment and other gadgets.
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