Bigger cargo of smuggled cigarettes pursued in Central Luzon

The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) is scouring Bataan and Pampanga in pursuit of a bigger cargo believed to have been smuggled out of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) following the seizure of 130 boxes of imported cigarettes worth P5.4 million.

PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. said he believes the seized goods were only part of “a bigger contraband” and instructed his operatives to closely coordinate with local authorities in pinpointing the possible areas where the bigger cache of smuggled goods is stored.

Villar said he was “furious over the clear unholy alliance between the smugglers and government officials in spiriting out the cargo from the SBFZ.”

Villar also ordered that a certain Mei Jocson of Mabalacat, Pampanga be investigated as he was the alleged consignee of the seized 130 boxes of cigarettes.

The smuggled cigarettes – 46 boxes of Black Devil, 26 of Kent Blue Future, 30 of Kent Silver Neo, and 30 of Mild Seven Lights – were loaded in three passenger vans that were apprehended by a joint PASG-police team at a checkpoint in Barangay Nagbalayong, Morong, Bataan.