P10.2-M cigarettes seized in Sulu
COTABATO CITY — The Philippine Navy seized P10.2 million worth of smuggled cigarettes from Indonesia that a small boat was set to deliver somewhere in Sulu province in the Bangsamoro region.
Commodore Francisco G. Tagamolila, commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao, and Brigadier General Prexy D. Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately told reporters on Sunday that the boat carrying the goods was intercepted about two nautical miles off the Mauboh beachfront in Patikul, Sulu by Navy servicemen on two patrol boats.
Sulu is one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that is close to Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
The Navy team turned over the Indonesian cigarettes to the office of the Bureau of Customs in Zamboanga City.
Navy and police units in Sulu and in Tawi-Tawi and the Western Mindanao Command have seized more than P100 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia in separate anti-smuggling operations in seaside towns and in the territorial seas of both provinces since late 2022. — John Felix Miciano Unson