Cops seize P10.6-M worth of smuggled cigarettes in Sulu

COTABATO CITY — The police confiscated P10.6 million worth of imported cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation in Barangay Kajatian in Indanan, Sulu on Friday.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Monday that the Indonesian-made cigarettes were found neatly piled inside a warehouse in Sitio Smart in Indanan by a police team. Vigilant villagers helped them find its exact location.

The 297 large boxes, containing 14,850 reams of cigarettes with Indonesian brands, worth P10.6 million, are now under the joint custody of Indanan Municipal Police Station and the Sulu Provincial Police Office.

“This is a very big accomplishment. Credit for this feat must partly go to the vigilant residents of Indanan and local officials who helped carry out this anti-smuggling operation,” Tanggawohn said.

The police director said that he has directed the Sulu PPO to immediately turn over the contraband to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.

The operation that resulted in the confiscation of the smuggled cigarettes involved the personnel of the Indanan MPS, the Sulu PPO, the Police Maritime unit in the province and members of PRO-BAR’s 14th Regional Mobile Force Battalion.

A male caretaker of the smuggled cigarettes, whose name Tanggawohn withheld while efforts to identify his accomplices are underway, was arrested and clamped down in a police detention facility.