(Image courtesy of PRO-BAR)
CAMP S.K. PENDATUN, Maguindanao del Norte – Police in Tawi-Tawi seized smuggled cigarettes worth PHP1.2 million over the weekend, a police official said here Monday.
Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) director, said elements of the Provincial Police Mobile Force Company found the smuggled cigarettes in a motorized boat docked at the coastal area of Barangay Lamion.
“The police rushed to the village at 7 p.m. following a tip that the boxes of cigarettes were being transferred to a small warehouse nearby,” Tanggawohn said.
However, he said the owner of the warehouse and its workers were gone when the police arrived.
Eighty-five master cases and 163 reams of various brands of cigarettes worth PHP1,236,160 were counted during an inventory that two barangay officials witnessed.
The seized cigarettes were handed over to the provincial Bureau of Customs office for appropriate action and disposal.
Since January this year, about PHP50 million worth of smuggled cigarettes have been seized in Tawi-Tawi. (PNA)
