Authorities have arrested two people and seized some PHP5.7 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, an official said Saturday.
Col. Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao, said suspects Jeeferson Amabao, 27, and Vicente Garcia, 32, were arrested in an anti-smuggling operation Thursday in Purok 6, Sitio Mara, Barangay Depase in Bayog town.
Verceles said personnel from the 2nd Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Mobile Force Company (2ZDSPMFC) launched the anti-smuggling operation after receiving reliable information that a shipment of smuggled cigarettes is en route to Bayog town from Zamboanga City.
Amabao and Garcia were arrested in a checkpoint on board a delivery van after they failed to present documents for 164 cases of cigarettes worth PHP5.74 million mixed with several boxes of dried fish.
Verceles said the suspects, along with their vehicle and confiscated cigarettes, were taken to the Bayog Municipal Police Station, and later turned over to the Bureau of Customs.
Thursday’s confiscation of smuggled cigarettes was the second in Zamboanga del Sur this week.
The first was on Wednesday wherein Danilo Vidad, 32, was caught loading smuggled cigarettes into a sports utility vehicle in Barangay Dimasangca, Labangan town.
Seized from Vidad’s possession were 30 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth PHP1.05 million.
Source: Philippine News Agency
