P2.7-M smuggled cigarettes seized in Maguindanao del Norte
COTABATO CITY — Vigilant merchants and policemen worked together last weekend to intercept a truck loaded with P2.7 million worth of imported cigarettes believed to be smuggled and consigned to buyers in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.
Brig. Gen. Allan C. Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Monday that the contraband was intercepted by police last Sunday afternoon with the help of businessmen selling Philippine-made cigarettes in this city.
Lt. Col. Esmail A. Madin said members of the business community, here, had tipped off the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station about the delivery of the Berlin brand cigarettes from Zamboanga. He said Filipino seafarers brought them in from Indonesia.
In an interview, entrepreneur and lawyer Ronald Hallid D. Torres, who chairs the Bangsamoro Business Council, told BusinessWorld that legitimate traders of cigarettes in the autonomous region are losing a lot from competitors selling cheaper cigarettes from abroad clandestinely.
“We are not even sure if these were produced according to high quality standards the way cigarettes are produced in the country, with health warnings on each individual pack,” Mr. Torres said.
Mr. Madin said the confiscated cigarettes will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs, while the driver of the truck and his two helpers are now detained at the police station, pending the filing of appropriate charges. — John Felix M. Unson