P526.2M worth of cigarettes seized in Mindanao Navy operations

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May 18, 2026 | 7:25pm

COTABATO CITY — Navy teams seized a total of P526.2 millio worth of imported cigarettes in two separate seaborne operations last week in the territorial seas of the Bangsamoro region. The contraband is now in the joint custody of the Western Mindanao Naval Command (WMNC) and the Bureau of Customs.

Officials of the WMNC, the Western Mindanao Command and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region separately told reporters on Monday, May 18, that the two boats intended to transport the contraband to coastal areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula, as well as Lebak and Kalamansig in Region 12, and in the Bangsamoro provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, are now berthed at a Navy station in Zamboanga City.

Radio reports on Monday said Navy personnel on a patrol craft intercepted the M/B Zhyzhy last Wednesday, which was loaded with 2,519 boxes of cigarettes from Indonesia, a few miles off Basilan province in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, near Zamboanga City.

Officials of the WMNC and the WestMinCom, including its commander, Army Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran, told reporters that the 14 crewmen of the M/B Zhyzhy were to deliver the 2,519 boxes of imported cigarettes, valued at P317.3 million, to illegal traders in coastal villages in Basilan and Zamboanga City.

Gumiran, along with WMNC and PRO-BAR in Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte, said another Navy team also confiscated 1,400 boxes of Indonesian-made cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation in the municipal waters of Hadji Mohammad Ajul in Basilan last Thursday. The shipment was found in the hull of the seacraft JTK Express, which was en route to Pagadian City.

Customs agents in Region 9 and WMNC officials placed the value of the confiscated cigarette at P208.9 million. The contraband was reportedly intended for delivery to buyers in Pagadian City.

The JTK Express crewmen had told WMNC and police officials that a smuggler in Tawi-Tawi had contracted them to transport the illegal merchandise from the province to traders in Pagadian City.

Gumiran and PRO-BAR Director Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia separately told reporters they are grateful to the tipsters, including merchants and local executives, who informed WMNC about the alleged shipment of smuggled cigarettes to retailers in beachfront areas in Regions 9 and 12, as well as in the two BARMM provinces, enabling authorities to launch offshore operations that foiled both smuggling attempts.