P11.5-M cigarettes seized in Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY — Policemen seized P11.5 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in separate operations in Sultan Kudarat and Lanao del Sur last week, laid with the help of members of two Moro fronts.

Brig. Gen. Arnold P. Ardiente, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said on Monday, that it was due to the tips of Moro National Liberation Front members that policemen located a house in Barangay Kraan in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat where they found large boxes containing P7.8 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia.

Municipal officials in Palimbang, a seaside town, said the Indonesian-made cigarettes were ready for delivery to buyers in different towns in Sultan Kudarat, one of the four provinces in region 12.

The confiscated cigarettes in sealed boxes will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for their proper disposition.

This followed the seizure of P3.7 million worth of Indonesian-made cigarettes, aboard a light truck that was intercepted in Barangay Ilian in Picong, Lanao del Sur.

The small truck was bound for Lanao del Sur’s adjoining Malabang and Kapatagan towns, according to local executives and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who supported the anti-smuggling operation that led to the confiscation of its illegal cargo. — John Felix M. Unson