COTABATO CITY — Policemen intercepted a convoy of three vehicles loaded with P5.4 million worth of imported cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte before dawn on Monday.

Local executives in Parang and the spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), Capt. Steffi P. Salanguit, separately told reporters at noon on Monday that the 12 individuals escorting the contraband, intended for retailers in Cotabato City and in the adjoining Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato provinces, are now detained.

They are now undergoing procedural interrogation.

Their vehicles, a red Isuzu Elf truck, a silver minivan and a black Toyota Fortuner, were also impounded by policemen. All 12 of them are from different towns in Lanao del Sur, according to local executives.

Personnel of PRO-BAR’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion 14-A and anti-smuggling operatives from the Parang Municipal Police Station immediately blocked their route in Duran area in Parang, one of the 12 towns in Maguindanao del Norte, and held them immediately in an operation based on tips about the illegal shipment from legitimate cigarette dealers in Cotabato City.

Ronald Hallid D. Torres, chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council, told reporters on Monday that they are grateful to the confidential informants who helped prevent the delivery of the smuggled cigarettes to illegal dealers in Cotabato City and in nearby provinces.

Ms. Salanguit and Police Brig. Gen. Jaysen C. De Guzman, director of PRO-BAR, separately told reporters that the 6,500 reams of Indonesian-made cigarettes will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition. — John Felix M. Unson

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