P400,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes seized by PRO-9 cops

COTABATO CITY — Policemen seized P400,000 worth of Indonesian-made cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation in Barangay Guintolan in Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay on Thursday night, October 3.

Radio reports in cities in Central Mindanao on Friday stated that the operation, carried out by personnel of the Imelda Municipal Police Station and the Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Police Office, was laid with the help of legitimate cigarette dealers in the province, aware of the supposed delivery of the smuggled cigarettes to traders in the municipality.

Brig. Gen. Bowenn Joey Masauding, director of the Police Regional Office-9, was quoted in radio reports as saying that the contraband was intercepted in Barangay Guintolan shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Policemen had also impounded the vehicle that was scheduled to deliver the smuggled cigarettes, in sealed large boxes, to buyers in Imelda. They detained its driver and his helper for interrogation.

Masauding said they would turn over the confiscated cigarettes, with YS Menthol Plus, Canon Menthol, Lacost, Fort ang Grow Black Ice brands, to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.