The Bureau of Customs-Port of Zamboanga (BOC-POZ) Water Patrol Division (WPD) seized P25 million worth of smuggled cigarettes off the coastal waters of Sta. Cruz Island in Zamboanga City on December 8.

Elements of the WPD and Enforcement and Security Service- Customs Police Division (ESS-CPD) conducted maritime patrol around Sta. Cruz Island, where they intercepted 707 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth P25 million on board the wooden motorized vessel M/L Paris.

The 11-man crew failed to provide importation documents for the goods onboard.

The vessel came from Pangutaran, Jolo in Sulu, and was bound to Brgy. Baliwasan seaside in Zamboanga City.

District Collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr. said that with Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz’s initiative to improve BOC water assets, the POZ has an increased number of successful apprehensions through maritime patrol.

The intensified border control is also in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to curb smuggling activities in our jurisdiction.

The crew members are now undergoing interrogation and profiling.

The vessel and its contrabands were placed under the custody of the BOC for inventory and proper disposition in violation of Section 1113 (a) of Republic Act 10863, otherwise known as the “Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) of 2016, in relation to Section 117 and the Tobacco Exportation and Importation Rules and Regulations.#