MORE than P1 billion worth of cigarette-making machines and counterfeit cigarettes were destroyed in Cagayan de Oro City last month, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said yesterday.

The bureau seized the raw materials and packaging supplies used for cigarette manufacturing in separate operations in Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental and in the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte, it said in a statement.

Production of illicit cigarettes using machines, most of which come from China, have become more rampant as illegal tobacco trade shifted operations from smuggling cigarettes, BIR earlier said.

The Customs bureau earlier said it would talk to China’s Customs agency about the shipments of illegal cigarette-making machines. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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