Over 3,400 boxes of imported cigarettes seized in Mindanao ops

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February 25, 2026 | 4:57pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Navy units seized 3,460 boxes of imported cigarettes in separate offshore operations from Tuesday, February 24, in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat in Region 12 and, subsequently, in Basilan in the Bangsamoro region on Wednesday, February 25.

Officials of the Western Mindanao Naval Command and the Bureau of Customs were still initiating procedural accounting of the seized contraband until Wednesday afternoon to determine its total value in Philippine currency.

Officials of the WMNC and the Police Regional Office 12 separately told reporters at noon Wednesday that a Navy team first confiscated 3,000 large boxes containing cigarettes from Indonesia that a large boat, the M/V Sun Voyage, was to deliver to buyers in the seaside Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat.

The boat was intercepted by a Navy team in a patrol boat while sailing towards the seaport in Kalamansig, one of the coastal towns in Sultan Kudarat province in Central Mindanao.

Officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the WMNC have also confirmed the confiscation on Wednesday morning by another Navy team of 460 boxes of cigarettes with different Indonesian brands, piled aboard a smaller seacraft, the M/B Skyblue, in an operation near Sibago Island in Basilan.

WMNC officials told reporters that the crew of the M/B Skyblue was to deliver the smuggled cigarettes to beachfront areas in Basilan, a component province of BARMM, and in nearby Zamboanga City.

The crewmen of the two boats are now detained, undergoing tactical interrogation. The captains of both vessels have reportedly assured to identify the smugglers behind the foiled smuggling attempts for prosecution.