PHP 162,500 worth of smuggled cigarettes seized in Sara

By Jenifer P. Rendon

Police seized 250 reams of purported smuggled cigarettes at a roadside in Sara, Iloilo on the early evening of Feb. 24.

Capt. Theodore Roosevelt Saboy, Sara police chief, said the reams of cigarettes were placed in six cartons.

A tarpaulin was used to cover the boxes when they were left at the hinterland village of Latawan, a barangay 17 kilometers away from Sara town proper.

Saboy said they received information from a confidential agent about the abandoned boxes in the area prior to the discovery.

Members of the Sara Municipal Police Station, together with Barangay Kagawad Marlon Sacarias, checked on the boxes, which they learned contained fake or smuggled cigarettes.

Saboy said the 250 reams were Red Golden Dragon cigarettes, an unregistered brand with the Department of Trade and Industry.

He estimated that the cigarettes could be worth PHP 162,500.

Saboy said they have been receiving reports about the distribution of smuggled cigarettes in hinterland villages.

Ambulant vendors on board motorcycles from Capiz province were allegedly selling the cigarettes to community stores.

From the original boxes, the vendors repacked them in smaller boxes for distribution.

Saboy believed that the vendors were forced to temporarily discard the cigarettes after they saw policemen in the area.

On the same day, it was gathered that policemen were escorting Department of Social Welfare and Development personnel for the distribution of social pensions in the area.

To avoid getting caught with smuggled cigarettes in their possession, the vendors left the boxes in Latawan with the plan of retrieving them at a later time.

Saboy said residents noticed several motorcycle-riding men before police arrived.

“They could be the vendors who left the cigarettes and were just waiting for an opportune time to retrieve the boxes,” he said.

The recovered items are currently under the custody of the Sara Municipal Police Station for proper disposition.