Navy seizes P270.9-M worth of cigarettes in Maguindanao offshore operation

COTABATO CITY —A Navy team foiled, on Sunday, March 1, an attempt by seafaring smugglers to deliver P270.9 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia to dealers in this city and in nearby beachfront areas of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces in the Bangsamoro region.

Senior officials from the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Western Mindanao Naval Command told reporters on Tuesday, March 3, that they did not immediately announce the anti-smuggling operation to give police and Navy investigators enough time to determine the exact value of the contraband found aboard the two small boats, the M/B Makhfiyyan 5 and M/B Makhfiyyan.

The two wooden vessels, which came from Tawi-Tawi, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, were intercepted by a seaborne Navy team a few miles off Barangay Tapian in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, not far from Cotabato City, the regional capital of BARMM.

Reports reaching the office of BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua in this city stated that the Navy team involved in the offshore anti-smuggling operation discovered P216.7 million worth of Indonesian-brand cigarettes aboard the M/B Makhfiyyan 5.

The same team subsequently found that the M/B Makhfiyyan was carrying P54.2 million worth of the same contraband.

“We give the Western Mindanao Naval Command a proud salute for having prevented these two boats from getting close to the seaside municipalities in two provinces in our region where smugglers were supposed to unload the smuggled cigarettes,” Macacua, presiding chairperson of multi-sector Bangsamoro Regional Peace and Order Council, said. 

WMNC officials said the confiscated cigarettes, now in their custody, will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for proper disposition.

The operation, which resulted in the seizure of P270.9 million worth of smuggled cigarettes, was based on tips about its intended delivery to coastal areas in Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur and Cotabato City.

Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, expressed his gratitude to the confidential informants, including legitimate cigarette dealers affiliated with the influential Bangsamoro Business Council, which has members across BARMM’s five provinces and three cities, for assisting WestMinCom and the WMNC in monitoring cigarette smuggling in their communities.