P2.8-M smuggled cigarettes seized in Sulu

COTABATO CITY — Seaborne policemen seized P2.8 million worth of imported cigarettes in an anti-smuggling operation in Barangay Buansa in Indanan, Sulu on Friday.

The operation was launched by members of the Sulu Maritime Police Station, under the Regional Maritime Unit-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, after villagers reported having seen seafaring smugglers unloading large boxes containing cigarettes, made in Indonesia, in Sitio Subah in Barangay Buansa.

Citing a report from Sulu, Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), said on Sunday that the men who brought the 50 boxes of imported cigarettes ran away when they sensed that members of the Sulu Maritime police force, backed by PRO-BAR units in the province, were approaching their location.

Local executives and investigators from the Indanan Municipal Police Station estimated the confiscated imported cigarettes to be worth P2.8 million.

The seized contraband will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition, according to Mr. Macapaz. — John Felix M. Unson