Cops seize P5.6-M worth of cigarettes in Sulu seaside town

COTABATO CITY — The police confiscated P5.6 million worth of imported cigarettes in another anti-smuggling operation in Sulu province on Thursday.

The 97 large boxes containing cigarettes with different Indonesian brands were found by policemen in a makeshift storage facility in a secluded barangay in Patikul, a seaside town in Sulu.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday that a male caretaker of the seized contraband was detained for questioning.

The anti-smuggling operation, was carried out by personnel of the Patikul Municipal Police Station and operatives from the Sulu Provincial Police Office and PRO-BAR’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion 14, was initiated with the help of traditional Tausug leaders.

Tanggawohn said that the community leaders led policemen to the exact location of the P5.6 million worth of imported cigarettes, ready for delivery to retailers in Patikul and nearby towns.

Police units in Sulu had seized more than P200 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia, brought in by seafarers, in one anti-smuggling operation after another since early 2023.

Tanggawohn said the smuggled cigarettes confiscated in Patikul on Thursday shall be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.