Combined agents of the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Navy on Tuesday intercepted a foreign ship and several small local boats loaded with smuggled rice worth at least P100 million and arrested the 16-man Vietnamese crew armed with high-powered guns in Pata Island, Sulu.
Customs deputy commissioner Jessie Dellosa said the cargo ship, M/V An Bien-89-ALCI, was spotted near the Pata island with 116,000 sacks of rice from Vietnam.
The government also seized three local boats in the vicinity which were loaded with imported rice unloaded from the foreign ship.
Confiscated from the small boats were 15,000 sacks or rice and several high-powered guns including seven M14 rifles, three M16 rifles, and two grenade launchers.
“The four vessels were escorted under heavy security by the Philippine Navy. All apprehended vessels and their cargoes were properly turned over to the Bureau of Customs in Zamboanga City for processing and filing of charges including the issuance of the warrant of seizure and detention,” Dellosa said.
“The Vietnamese vessel manifest showed some 152,000 sacks were consigned to the Sunrise Ship and Trading Company. We however recovered around 131,000 sacks. This is because the ship arrived in Sulu last February 19, Thursday but was only apprehended on February 23, Monday. We are conducting follow up operations on this,” he said.
The successful operation is made possible with the Philippine Navy particularly Task Force Zambasulta and Task Group Sulu, and local authorities for helping apprehend smugglers in the south, Dellosa said.
“We will continue to closely watch ports in the Zambasulta area for smuggling activities,” he added.