Cops seize P523K worth of imported cigarettes in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi

COTABATO CITY — Policemen confiscated P523,000 worth of imported cigarettes in separate anti-smuggling operations in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi and in Jolo, Sulu on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday morning that he has directed his subordinate-officers in Bongao and in Jolo to turn over the confiscated contraband to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.

Tanggawohn said personnel of the Bongao Municipal Police Station and the Tawi-Tawi Provincial Police Office took P148,000 worth of Indonesian-made cigarettes displayed in different stores in Barangay Poblacion Bongao after explaining to store owners that it is illegal to sell such merchandise without permits from the BOC, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Trade and Industry.

The confiscated cigarettes are now kept in the police station in Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi, one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

A team from the Jolo Municipal Police Station first prevented early Thursday an attempt by smugglers to deliver P375,000 worth of cigarettes from Indonesia to different stores in Jolo via a small wharf in the seaside Barangay Tulay in the municipality.

Policemen found the contraband in a spot close to the mini pier in Barangay Tulay after residents reported seeing boxes of cigarettes being unloaded by boatmen from a small watercraft, to be delivered to contacts in Jolo, the seat of the Sulu provincial government.

Tanggawohn said the men accompanying the smuggled cigarettes fled when they noticed the policemen approaching their location, responding to tips by villagers about their presence in the area.