Cops seize P10.6-M worth of imported cigarettes in Maguindanao del Norte

COTABATO CITY — Policemen foiled on Sunday morning an attempt by smugglers to deliver somewhere in Maguindanao del Norte up to P10.6 million worth of imported cigarettes piled inside a van-type truck, covered with sacks filled with rice and corn grains.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters at noontime Sunday that the truck was intercepted by policemen in a stretch of a highway in Barangay Sarmiento in Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte province.

Personnel of the Parang Municipal Police Station, led by Lt. Col. Erwin Tabora, had promptly guarded the route and stopped the truck carrying Indonesian-made cigarettes while passing by after learning from tipsters about its supposed delivery of the contraband to retailers in towns nearby.

Tanggawohn has ordered the Parang MPS to immediately turn over the confiscated imported cigarettes to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.