P64-M cigarettes seized in Tawi-Tawi
COTABATO CITY — A unit of the Philippine Navy foiled last Saturday an attempt to deliver P64 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia to Tawi-Tawi.
Local authorities reported that the watercraft carrying 2,000 cases of cigarettes with Indonesian brands, the M/L Yasmen, was intercepted a few miles off Manuk Mangkaw Island in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi by Navy personnel on a sea patrol.
The M/L Yasmen was impounded by the Navy unit in Tawi-Tawi, and the contraband was turned over to the office of the Bureau of Customs in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi.
Rear Admiral Donn Anthony L. Miraflor, Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) commander, said these operations are the result of multi-agency collaborations.
Brig. Allan C. Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (BARMM) Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Ports Management Authority are just two of the agencies who support efforts to address cigarette smuggling in the region. — John Felix M. Unson