SOME P15-million worth of smuggled fuel and cigarettes were seized by operatives of the Philippine Navy off the cost of Tulian Islan in Sulu province.

Navy spokesman Col. Omar Tonsay said on Thursday that the contraband goods were loaded aboard ML Wish Me Luck Princess, which tried to avoid Navy operatives stationed near the Chinese Pier in Jolo, Sulu.

“This prompted the Navy patrol gunboat together with operative of Navy Task Force 61 to intercept, board and search the said ship,” Tonsay said.

Inspection later revealed that the vessel was loaded with 796 plastic drums of gasoline with a capacity of 250 liters each and 1,000 boxes of cigarettes of 50 reams a box, all without the necessary supporting documents.

It was also discovered that the vessel had no Coast Guard clearance and was sailing without a master patron.

Too, in coordination by the Navy with the Coast Guard Station in Jolo, further inspection and inquiry was made since the vessel had no Coast Guard clearance and was sailing without a Master Patron.

Initial inquiry also showed that the contraband were owned by at least 10 persons represented by a certain Johons Askali of Brgy. Bunut in Indana, Sulu.

The ship’s last port of call was in Sitangkay, Tawi Tawi province and was headed for Tanjung Pier in Indanan, Sulu. But authorities were still trying to determine its previous port of calls overseas.

Tonsay said that the ship, its 13-man Filipino crew and the contraband goods would be turned over to the Bureau of Customs.

Smuggling charges, he added, would be filed against the crew for violation of Republic Act 1937 or the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.

It is estimated that the customs bureau is losing at least P50 billion a year from rampant smuggling.

A high ranking customs official has said that on oil smuggling alone, the government is already losing between P5 to P15 billion a year.

Oil smuggling is most rampant in the Port of Subic and sub-port of Limay in Bataan.

Aside from oil smuggling, billions of pesos more are lost in cigarettes, car, sugar, rice and resin smuggling, among others.