Zambo Coast Guard seizes boat loaded with diesel fuel

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday announced the seizure here of 89,600 liters of diesel believed to have been smuggled into the country, but it has not named the owner of the fuel for a still unknown reason.

 

Photos released by the Philippine Coast Guard show the seized boat loaded with diesel fuel in Zamboanga City.

It said some 600 drums of fuel were loaded in a boat M/L ZSHAHUNY II at Varadero Port in the village of Cawit when Coast Guard personnel and members of the Bureau of Customs seized the cargo over the weekend on suspicion it was smuggled.

 

“Joint elements of Coast Guard District Southwestern Mindanao acted upon a verified report and conducted a seaborne patrol which led to the successful apprehension of M/L ZSHAHUNY II loaded with 600 drums of alleged smuggled fuel at Varadero Port in Cawit,” the Coast Guard said.

 

No other details were released by the Coast Guard, but an earlier report said the boat came from the southern Filipino province of Tawi-Tawi near the Malaysian border of Sabah.

 

Last month, the Philippine Navy also seized a boat illegally transporting 250 drums of diesel fuel off Tawi-Tawi province. The boat M/B Annabel, manned by 11 Filipino crew members, was carrying some 50,000 liters of fuel worth over P3 million, when it was apprehended by patrol ships near Panglima Sugala town.

 

The Naval Forces Western Mindanao also did not identify the owner of the contraband or whether the fuel was sneaked into the province from Sabah, but smuggling of Malaysian petroleum products and cigarettes are rampant in the South. (Mindanao Examiner)