Police confiscate P1.6-M smuggled cigarettes in SoCot, MagNorte
Peace and Order • 06:15 AM Sat Jun 15, 2024
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
KORONADAL CITY - About P1.630 million worth of smuggled cigarettes believed to be from Indonesia and Malaysia were confiscated during separate law enforcement operations in South Cotabato and Maguindanao del Norte, police said today.
Brig. Gen. Percival Augustus Placer, police director for the Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Gen. Santos City) region, said police in Sto Niño, South Cotabato seized 22 boxes containing 1,078 reams of “YS filter cigarettes” estimated to cost over P1 million during a law enforcement operation on Monday.
Sto. Niño police chief Major Raymon Faba identified the suspect as “Alias Richard,” 39, a businessman and resident of Barangay Poblacion. He is facing charges of violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
In Maguindanao del Norte, Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, police director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, announced Wednesday (today) that law enforcers confiscated a total of P630,000 worth of cigarettes from Indonesia during separate law enforcement operations in Sultan Kudarat and Sultan Mastura towns, both in Maguindanao del Norte.
At about 5 a.m. on Tuesday, policemen foiled an attempt by a lone suspect to deliver about P450,000 worth of cigars in boxes believed to be from Indonesia.
A civilian tipped off the police about a boat loaded with contraband expected to dock at the coast of Barangay Simuay Seashore.
He was immediately arrested after his boat arrived with boxes of cigarettes.
Hours earlier, police operatives of Sultan Kudarat municipal police office, confiscated P180,000 worth of smuggled cigars in boxes abandoned at the roadside in Barangay Ungap.
The contraband was seized when no one from among the residents nearby could say who owned the cigarettes.
Police said three men were sighted near the pile of cigarette boxes as if waiting for buyers to pick them up. But they fled after police officers, led by Capt. Norman Nur, arrived in the village.