CONFISCATED CIGARETTES. Personnel of the Zamboanga del Norte 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company inspect the master cases of some PHP1.8 million in smuggled cigarettes they seized from a policeman and a businessman in Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte, on July 31, 2026. During an operation on Saturday (Aug. 1), operatives of the Zamboanga Sibugay Police Office also seized smuggled cigarettes worth PHP1.4 million in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay. (Photo courtesy of Zamboanga del Norte PPO)
TheMonitorMindanaoToday.com | 1 arrested, P1.4-M smuggled cigarettes seized in Zamboanga Sibugay
By: Teofilo Garcia, Jr.
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Authorities have arrested an individual and seized about PHP1.4 million worth of smuggled cigarettes during a law enforcement operation Saturday afternoon in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
In a statement Sunday, Col. Barnard Danie Dasugo, Zamboanga Sibugay police director, said an adult male suspect was arrested in Barangay Makila, Ipil, the province’s capital town.
Dasugo said the anti-smuggling operation was launched after the operatives received an intelligence report about the shipment of smuggled cigarettes in Ipil.
“Confiscated were 24 master cases of Pragon cigarettes, with a Bureau of Customs (BOC) standard price of PHP1,375,200,” Dasugo said in his report.
The arrested individual and the confiscated items were brought to Ipil Municipal Police Station for temporary custody prior to their turnover to the BOC for proper disposition and the filing of appropriate charges.
On July 31, during a nighttime operation in Zamboanga del Norte, police personnel also arrested a police officer and a businessman after intercepting a shipment of smuggled cigarettes valued at about PHP1.8 million.
Lt. Col. Edwin Verzon, commander of the Zamboanga del Norte 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company, said the arrested suspects are a 34-year-old policeman assigned to Zamboanga City Police Station 10 and a 36-year-old businessman from Barangay Tumaga, Zamboanga City.
Verzon said the smuggling suspects were on board a vehicle when they were flagged down by police personnel who set up a checkpoint in Barangay Gatas following information from a tipster on the contraband.
Seized from the vehicle were some 1,630 reams of smuggled cigarettes and a loaded 9mm pistol from the businessman.
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