P450K worth imported cigarettes seized in Lanao del Sur
Local News • 13:00 PM Fri Aug 5, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
COTABATO CITY --- The police seized Thursday P450,000 worth of cigarettes from Indonesia that boatmen were to deliver to a buyer in the seaside Picong town in Lanao del Sur.
Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Lanao del Sur police director, said Friday the 20 boxes of imported cigarettes that policemen had seized were piled at one spot in a beach in Barangay Biosong in Picong, covered with tarpaulin and ready for pick-up by a buyer.
The police operation that led to the recovery of the P450,000 worth cigarettes from Indonesia was launched after villagers reported to the municipal police having noticed Tausug-speaking boatmen unloading the contraband from a small outrigger boat.
The smugglers who brought the cigarettes to Barangay Biosong immediately sailed away when they sensed that personnel of the Picong Municipal Police Station, led by Lt. Reagan Yap Adap, were closing in.
Bongcayao said he has directed the Picong police chief to turn over the illegal merchandise to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.