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John Unson - Philstar.com
February 24, 2026 | 6:38pm
The Police Regional Maritime Unit 9 is now in custody of the P14 million worth smuggled cigarettes seized in an off-shore anti-smuggling operation in the territorial seas of Zamboanga City on Feb. 23, 2026.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen seized P14 million worth of smuggled cigarettes from southern provinces in an offshore operation in Zamboanga City on Monday, February 23, premised on reports by local executives, the Bangsamoro regional police and the military’s Western Mindanao Command about the contraband shipment.
Radio reports on Tuesday in Central Mindanao stated that the small wooden boat, marked Yana 1, carrying 350 large boxes containing cigarettes with different Indonesian brands, costing P14 million, from suppliers in island towns in south of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, were intercepted by seaborne personnel of the Police Regional Maritime Unit 9 a few miles off Barangay Sinunuc in Zamboanga City on Monday.
Officials of the RMU 9 said three boatmen who were to deliver the P14 million worth of imported cigarettes to contacts in beachfront areas in Zamboanga City were detained for procedural interrogation. Their boat was immediately impounded, now berthed near their headquarters in Baliwasan seaside in Zamboanga City.
RMU 9 officials were quoted in radio reports as saying that they promptly foiled the smuggling attempt after local executives in the island provinces of Sulu in Region 9 and in nearby Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, both in BARMM, and officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the WestMinCom based in Zamboanga City informed them about it.
Provincial officials in the three island provinces are overtly supporting the joint anti-smuggling operations of the RMU 9 and the regional police offices in Region 9 and BARMM.
RMU 9 officials said they shall turn over the seized smuggled cigarettes to the Bureau of Customs for its proper disposition.
Photo: The Police Regional Maritime Unit 9 is now in custody of the P14 million worth smuggled cigarettes seized in an off-shore anti-smuggling operation in the territorial seas of Zamboanga City on Monday, February 23, 2026.
