P3.8-M worth of smuggled cigars seized in Zambo Sur
COTABATO CITY - The police seized early Sunday P3.8 million worth imported cigarettes smugglers were to deliver to a buyer somewhere in Zamboanga del Sur.
The contraband was intercepted before dawn Sunday by a police team at a checkpoint along a highway in Barangay Camanga in Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur.
In a statement Monday, the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office said personnel of the Dumalinao Municipal Police Station also impounded the green Mazda light truck carrying the imported cigarettes.
Truck driver Al Ibrahim and companions, Nadz Esmael and Madzmur Sahipa, were immediately arrested.
The Zamboanga del Sur PPO said the three men were to deliver the cigarettes to a contact in one of the towns in the province.
They failed to present tariff and customs permits for the cigarettes, made in Indonesia, to the policemen who flagged them down in Barangay Camanga in Dumalinao for inspection.
The Zamboanga del Sur PPO said the confiscated P3.8 million worth imported cigarettes shall be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposal.