Zamboanga City: Authorities in Zamboanga City arrested three individuals and seized over PHP14.6 million worth of smuggled cigarettes and illegal drugs, along with a firearm, in a series of intelligence-driven law enforcement operations conducted on Wednesday.

According to Philippines News Agency, Brig. General Roel Rodolfo, director of the Police Regional Office in Zamboanga Peninsula (PRO-9), stated that the operations highlighted intensified efforts against illicit trade and narcotics. Rodolfo mentioned that the series of operations began with the apprehension of a suspect yielding a substantial cigarette haul.

Alias “Tabong”, 38, a resident of Barangay Kasanyangan, was apprehended when policemen, in coordination with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), inspected a panel truck suspiciously parked in Barangay Malagutay. Seized from the truck, driven by “Tabong”, were 237 master cases and 49 reams of assorted smuggled cigarettes, valued at PHP13,637,410. The driver is currently detained at Zamboanga City Police Station 8, while the confiscated cigarettes have been turned over to the BOC for proper disposition.

Meanwhile, authorities also conducted an anti-drug operation on Wednesday afternoon that led to the arrest of two individuals and the seizure of over PHP1 million worth of illegal drugs and a firearm. Colonel Fidel Fortaleza, Jr., director of the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), identified the arrested suspects as alias Mar, 39, and alias Rakib, 43, both local residents and construction workers. They were apprehended in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Kasanyangan.

‘Seized from the two suspects were some 150 grams of suspected shabu worth PHP1,020,000, a bundle of buy-bust money, a .38 caliber revolver, and identification cards,’ Colonel Fortaleza reported on Thursday. The shabu confiscation marks the second-biggest drug haul this month in Zamboanga Peninsula, following a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operation in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, on May 7.