DESTROYED. A backhoe crushes smuggled cigarettes worth PHP183 million in Zamboanga City on Monday (Dec. 7, 2020). The cigarettes destroyed by the BOC-Zamboanga were then transported and disposed in city's sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan. (Photo courtesy of Remus Lim Ong)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Zamboanga District Office led the destruction Monday of some PHP183 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in this city.
Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr., BOC-Zamboanga district collector, said the assorted cigarettes were seized in separate anti-smuggling operations since September this year in the region and in the Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa) provinces.
More than 5,200 master cases of cigarettes were scattered on an outdoor yard of a warehouse in Barangay Baliwasan, this city and drenched with water by firemen and crushed with the use of a backhoe.
The destroyed cigarettes were later transported and disposed in the city’s sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan.
Barte said that the aggressive anti-smuggling campaign, as well as the immediate destruction and disposal of the contraband, was a firm directive from BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
With the commissioner’s leadership and guidance, Barte said the BOC-Zamboanga District Office has seized more than PHP2.2 billion worth of contraband since January this year.
He credits this achievement to the efficient inter-agency coordination with the BOC’s partner agencies like the Philippine Coast Guard, police, military, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Fire Protection, local government units, and other concerned stakeholders.
“I am thankful to our partners for the support and active cooperation in BOC’s anti-smuggling campaign,” he said.
The destruction of the confiscated smuggled cigarettes was witnessed by representatives of the local government units, Commission on Audit and Department of Health, heads of partner law enforcement agencies, and other concerned stakeholders. (PNA)
