North Cotabato cops foil another cigarette smuggling attempt
Local News • 15:45 PM Mon Nov 22, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
The truck full of smuggled cigarettes policemen flagged down in Aleosan, North Cotabato. (Police photo)
COTABATO CITY - The police foiled Friday an attempt to transport to Zamboanga City from North Cotabato P890,000 worth of imported cigarettes, the second bust in just six days.
Brig. Gen. Alexander Tagum, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Monday, the truck carrying the smuggled cigarettes was intercepted in Aleosan, North Cotabato by personnel of the municipal police.
The Tradition brand cigarettes were neatly packed in Styrofoam boxes to conceal the illegal shipment, to be delivered somewhere in Pagadian City.
The driver of the van-type truck carrying the contraband, Mark Barte Villarin, 37, and companions Gerald Falconite Villarin, 21 and the 18-Abdulhaber Maladia Mohammad, are now detained.
Tagum said they are now being interrogated to determine the source of the smuggled cigarettes they were to deliver to a buyer in Pagadian City.
Policemen in Makilala town in North Cotabato prevented last week an attempt by five men to deliver P5 million worth of smuggled cigarettes to General Santos City from somewhere in Davao del Sur province.
The truck loaded with cigarettes bound for General Santos City was intercepted by a police team in Makilala town in North Cotabato, while en route to General Santos City.
Four men escorting the truck and its driver are now clamped down in a detention facility of the Makilala municipal police.