P52-M smuggled cigarettes seized in Davao Oriental

COTABATO CITY — A Navy team and policemen seized P52 million worth of imported cigarettes in a seaborne anti-smuggling operation in the municipal waters of Governor Generoso town in Davao Oriental province on Friday night.

Senior officials of the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao (NFEM) Command and the Police Regional Office 11 confirmed to reporters on Monday the confiscation of 1,246 boxes of cigarettes from Indonesia, aboard the M/B Bukal, intercepted during an offshore operation by a Navy team 8.5 miles off the seaside town center of Governor Generoso.

Commodore Ireneo D. Battung, commander of the NFEM, said the impounded M/V Bukal is now berthed at a pier in the Naval Station Felix Apolinario in Panacan, Davao City.

Police probers and NFEM intelligence agents found out that the owner of the boat is reportedly linked to large-scale suppliers of smuggled cigarettes in the neighboring provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The detained seven crewmen of the M/B Bukal told NFEM officials that the 1,246 large boxes of Indonesian-made cigarettes seized from them came from Sulu, earmarked for retailers in seaside areas in Governor Generoso and nearby towns in Davao Oriental province in Region 11. — John Felix M. Unson