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Smuggled cigarettes seized in Zambo ops

By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.

December 1, 2020, 8:05 pm

<p><strong>SMUGGLED.</strong> A marine soldier boards a motorboat loaded with smuggled cigarettes they intercepted Monday (Nov. 30, 2020) off Barangay Mariki, Zamboanga City. The troops intercepted the shipment while on a routine maritime security patrol. <em>(Photo courtesy of Marine Battalion Landing Team-11)</em></p>

SMUGGLED. A marine soldier boards a motorboat loaded with smuggled cigarettes they intercepted Monday (Nov. 30, 2020) off Barangay Mariki, Zamboanga City. The troops intercepted the shipment while on a routine maritime security patrol. (Photo courtesy of Marine Battalion Landing Team-11)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Government forces seized some PHP1.5 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in separate operations here and in the Zamboanga Sibugay province, officials said Tuesday.

Police seized smuggled cigarettes consisting of 137 master cases with an estimated value of PHP1.5 million in Sitio Sarok-Sarok, Barangay Bangkerohan, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, on Monday.

Maj. Lee Eric Humpa, Ipil police chief, said no one was around when authorities confiscated the contraband, which he said will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Around 11 p.m. Monday, the Marine Battalion Landing Team-11 (MBLT-11) troops intercepted a motorboat loaded with several master cases of smuggled cigarettes believed to worth millions of pesos in Barangay Mariki.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the MBLT-11 troops were on maritime security patrol when they saw the motorboat, whose operator and two assistants were arrested. (PNA)

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