BOC – Port of Zamboanga, Zamboanga City. (September 20, 2019) – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Zamboanga seized on Wednesday, 18 September 2019, thirty (30) cartons of assorted cigarettes with an estimated value of P900,000.00, through a joint anti-smuggling operation with the elements of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
The operation stemmed from the information received that certain individuals are engaged in cigarette smuggling in Magay Public Market, Zamboanga City.
The said smuggled cigarettes were found loaded in two (2) hatch back type vehicles inside the Pier Area in Zamboanga City. The drivers of the vehicles failed to present pertinent documents when they were accosted by the joint operatives.
Those individuals who were apprehended were immediately brought to NBI for further investigation and for filing of possible charges.
The vehicles and the cigarettes will be subjected to forfeiture proceedings pursuant to Section 1113, paragraphs A, F, K, L subparagraphs 1 and 5 and Section 117 of the CMTA in relation to Executive Order No. 245 entitled, “Amended Rules and Regulations Governing the Exportation and Importation of Tobacco and Tobacco Products.”
Zamboanga Port has been used as the port of entry of contraband and illegal drugs, among others by unscrupulous traders/importers.
According to Port of Zamboanga District Collector Segundo Sigmunfreud Barte, Jr., the collaborative effort is in compliance to the directive of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to intensify anti-smuggling operations in the ZAMBASULTA (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) area.