4 arrested in Negros Occidental for smuggling P3.8M in cigarettes from Zamboanga

The Negros Occidental police intensify their operations to prevent the province from being turned into a dumping ground for cigarettes smuggled into the country via the southern backdoor

BACOLOD, Philippines – Authorities arrested a young Malaysian and three others from Mindanao while they were trying to sneak in nearly P4 million in contraband cigarettes in Ilog town, Negros Occidental, on Wednesday afternoon, July 10.

Major Joseph Partidas, chief of the Ilog Police Office, said 77,750 packs of cigarettes in 150 large boxes, valued at P3.87 million, were intercepted and confirmed to have originated from Zamboanga.

Colonel Rainerio de Chavez, director of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), told Rappler on Thursday, July 11, that authorities have intensified operations to prevent Negros Occidental from being turned into a dumping ground for cigarettes believed to have been smuggled into the country via the southern backdoor.

Investigators, who withheld the suspects’ identities, said the suspects used a motorized banca and traveled for hours from Zamboanga to Ilog. 

They were arrested upon docking at Barangay 2 in Ilog around 1:30 pm on Wednesday by a team composed on representatives from the Bureau of Customs (BoC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), police, and Bantay Dagat groups from Ilog and Himamaylan City.

All four suspects, including the Malaysian teenager, were found to be residents of Barangay Diki in Isabela City, Basilan, according to Partidas. 

They were taken to an Ilog town police detention facility, while a complaint for violation of the Tax Reform Act of 1997 was being prepared against them.

It was the second time since June that authorities in Negros Occidental confiscated contraband cigarettes. The first was at the public market in Escalante City, in the northern part of the province, where many boxes of contraband cigarettes were seized.

“We are assisting the BIR, and our Provincial Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee is doing its best in our extensive drive against fake cigarettes in Negros Occidental,” De Chavez said.

In June, authorities also destroyed approximately P595 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga. – Rappler.com