ZAMBOANGA CITY – Authorities arrested a suspect and seized over PHP3.9 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation here on Wednesday.
Col. Alexander Lorenzo, city police director, said Mhadzmar Tantung was arrested by police operatives around 9 a.m. in Barangay Maasin.
Tantung, 38, was arrested while in the act of unloading the contraband in front of the house of a certain Hadji Amir in the same village, Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo said Tantung yielded some 113 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth PHP3.955 million.
The confiscated smuggled cigarettes were turned over to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) while Tantung was placed under the custody of the police’s Regional Special Operations Group-9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) for further investigation and filing of appropriate charges.
The confiscation of smuggled cigarettes was the second for the month in this city.
On May 5, joint police and BOC operatives also arrested two suspects and seized PHP4.4 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in the waters of coastal Recodo village. (PNA)
