The Bureau of Customs-Port of Zamboanga (BOC-POZ) seized P8M worth of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga City on November 2.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) and the Enforcement and Security Service-Customs Police Division (ESS-CPD), the Regional Special Operating Group (RSOG), CIU-Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), and Police Station 11 (PS11) carried out an anti-smuggling operation following information that a certain vehicle was carrying contrabands.

The team intercepted 207 master cases of cigarettes with the brand “ARTHUR” onboard a white Elf van traveling along Brgy. Baliwasan in Zamboanga City.

A joint inventory was later conducted with RSOG, ZCPO, PS11, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). The seized goods and vehicles were found negative for illegal drugs.

District Collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr. attributed the successful consecutive seizures in ZAMBASULTA to the creation of a strengthened Task Force for Anti-Smuggling Operations.

The vehicle and the master cases of cigarettes are now under the custody of the BOC for proper inventory and disposition, for violation of Section 1113 (a) and Section 117 of Republic Act No. 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016, in relation to the Tobacco Exportation and Importation Rules and Regulations.The operation is part of the marching orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz to curb smuggling in the country by implementing stringent border control measures.#