CIGARETTES DESTRUCTION. Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr., Bureau of Customs-Zamboanga district collector (left), and Councilor Josephine Pareja (right) tear apart smuggled cigarettes, as part of the destruction Wednesday (Dec. 15, 2021). It is part of PHP300 million worth of confiscated cigarettes in Zamboanga City. (Photo by: Teofilo P. Garcia, Jr.) ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) here, together with partner agencies, on Wednesday destroyed more than 8,000 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth PHP300 million. The cigarettes were stacked, drenched by firetrucks, and crushed with the use of heavy equipment in front of the BOC-rented warehouse in Barangay Baliwasan. After crushing, the cigarettes were disposed at the sanitary landfill. "These cigarettes were seized in separate anti-smuggling operations in Zamboanga Peninsula and BaSulTa (Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) from May to November this year," BOC-Zamboanga District Collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte Jr. s