P’pines Navy seizes RM970k worth of rice from Labuan
Published on: Monday, July 15, 2019
By: Nikko Fabian
KOTA KINABALU: Some RM970,000 (12 million pesos) worth of smuggled rice reportedly coming from the Federal Territory of Labuan were seized by Naval Forces Western Mindanao (Navforwem) off Basilan Province, last Friday.
The illegal shipment of rice on board a wooden-hulled vessel (M/V Indah Jehan) en route to Zamboanga City was intercepted by Naval Task Force 61 while in the vicinity of Lampinigan Island.
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“A ship belonging to Navforwem’s special operation unit was conducting maritime security patrol when it chanced upon M/V Indah Jehan.
“Upon investigation, the vessel was found loaded with some 10,000 sacks of rice worth PHP12 million with no importation documents,” Rear Amd Erick Kagaoan said.
He said M/V Indah Jehan manned by 10 crewmen came from Labuan, Malaysia.
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He said the foiled importation of smuggled rice was a result of intensified naval presence and focused maritime patrol of the Philippine Navy in support of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) operations.
