ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Joint security forces blocked a passenger vessel loaded with an estimated 1,000 sacks of smuggled rice that came from Sulu.
Police Superintendent Ariel Huesca, commander of the Public Safety Battalion, said the vessel had just arrived and docked at the local wharf about 4:30 a.m, Wednesday when police and Marines held the M/V Magnolia Liliflora based on tips from civilians it was carrying smuggled rice.
The joint security forces, working on operation concept Pulis, Marines at Army, led by Police Inspector Edgardo Esperat Domingo and Sgt. Marlon Jarabelo with the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Customs conducted the board and search inspection and yielded the smuggled rice loaded in the vessel, Huesca said.
The security forces disclosed that the smuggled sacks containing 25-kilo rice each were concealed in larger containers with three sacks each.
Huesca said the seized goods were turned over to the Bureau of Customs for inventory and confiscation.
Authorities and security forces have intensified efforts against rice smuggling, with the goods usually unloaded in Sulu and shipped to the southern port city of Zamboanga.