Navy seizes smuggled goods off Sulu coast

THE Philippine Navy has intercepted a shipment of P10-million (US$236,410) worth of contraband goods that came from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia, a top military official disclosed on Thursday.

Rear Admiral Armando Guzman, Naval Forces Western Mindanao command chief, citing a belated report, said the shipment was intercepted Thursday last week at vicinity 1.2 nautical miles west of Tulian Island, Sulu. Guzman said the troops aboard Patrol Gunboat-118 known as BRP-Emilio Liwanag were on maritime law enforcement operation when they spotted M/L Al-Kausar steaming towards the port of Jolo, the capital of Sulu province.

Guzman said that the troops found out that M/L Al-Kausar is loaded with 485 bales of used clothing, 3,000 sacks of rice, 300 cases of K2 soft drinks, 183 boxes of Sedaap noodles, 100 boxes of Maggi Kari, 115 bags of pancit/udang noodles, 30 boxes of white candles, and 200 boxes of cooking oil.

Hudri Darusalam, the skipper of M/L Al-Kausar, failed to present documents of the cargo shipment, Guzman said. MindaNews