P2M worth of smuggled cigarettes seized

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – More than 100 boxes of different brands of cigarettes worth P2 million were seized by police from three individuals in Barangay Isio, Cauayan, Negros Occidental last Sunday.

Police arrested Dandy Calago, 28, of Dipolog City; Rolando Lanario, 27; and Joel Carvana, 42, both residents of Hinigaran town.

Police Lieutenant Raffy Billones, deputy chief of Cauayan Municipal Police Station, said they received information about the alleged transport of 133 boxes of alleged smuggled cigarettes from Dipolog to the province, prompting them to conduct surveillance and validation.

Billones said the suspects were intercepted at the shore of Barangay Isio upon their arrival here on board a pumpboat.

“They’ve been reportedly renting a cottage in the town near the beachfront for almost a month now,” according to Billones.

Billones said the suspects denied the allegation, but police suspect that the cigarettes may have been also distributed in other parts of the province.

Each box contained 50 reams of cigarettes.

Billones said the cigarettes did not undergo the legal process of transporting as they lacked pertinent documents.

He said they could not determine if the products were fake or not.

He said they will coordinate with the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) about the confiscation and the filing of appropriate charges against the three suspects.