INCENTIVE. Mayor John Dalipe (2nd from left) presents Monday (Dec. 12, 2022) a PHP75,000 ceremonial check to an official of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (left) as an incentive for the successful apprehension of some PHP52.8 million worth of smuggled cigarettes on Nov. 25, 2022 off Barangay Labuan, Zamboanga City. The Bureau of Customs – Zamboanga is set to destroy Tuesday some PHP395 million worth of smuggled cigarettes seized in anti-smuggling operations from May to November. (Photo courtesy of Mayor Dalipe’s Facebook page)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Zamboanga will destroy some PHP395 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in full public view on Tuesday in Barangay Baliwasan here.
“These (cigarettes) will then be disposed of in the sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan,” BOC-Zamboanga district collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr. said in a statement Monday.
He said the contraband were seized in anti-smuggling operations from May to November this year in the Zamboanga Peninsula and nearby island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Barte said the cigarettes consisting of some 11,219 master cases will be drenched in water and repeatedly crushed by heavy equipment in the presence of all partner agencies in the anti-smuggling campaign.
The BOC’s partner agencies include the Commission on Audit, city government, stakeholders and other law enforcement agencies that include the police, military, coast guard, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Fire Protection and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Tuesday's event will be the second condemnation activity of the BOC-Port of Zamboanga this year.
The first involved the destruction of some PHP110 million worth of smuggled cigarettes last May.
Barte said BOC-Zamboanga has recorded more than PHP500 million worth of confiscated cigarettes for the year following the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to strengthen measures against smuggling and promote transparency in operations.
Meanwhile, Mayor John Dalipe presented Monday a PHP75,000 ceremonial check to the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) as an incentive for the successful apprehension of some PHP52.8 million worth of smuggled cigarettes on Nov. 25.
Operatives of the NFWM’s Naval Task Force - 61 composed of Navy Seals and intelligence personnel were conducting maritime patrol when they chanced upon five motorboats traversing the seawater off Barangay Labuan loaded with 1,511 master cases of smuggled cigarettes.
The ceremonial check was presented to the NFWM officials during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony in front of the city hall. (PNA)
