About ₱787,500 worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized in Barangay Balintawak, Escalante City, Monday night, February 16, the Police Regional Office Negros Island Region (PRO NIR) reported on Tuesday.
Mobile patrollers and intelligence operatives from the Escalante City Coastal Police Station spotted a male suspect, identified only as alias “Sap,” in Purok Margarita unloading boxes of cigarettes into a white utility vehicle.
On noticing the approaching officers, the suspect fled and remains at large, the PRO NIR said.
Authorities recovered 35 master cases of cigarettes along with the transport vehicle.
To ensure full transparency and legal accountability, the entire recovery process was documented using Body-Worn Cameras before the confiscated goods and the utility vehicle were transported to the Escalante Police Station for official documentation and the filing of appropriate charges, the PRO NIR report said.
The police are preparing a case against the suspect for multiple violations of Republic Act 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act), Republic Act 10643 (Graphic Health Warnings Law), and Republic Act 8424 (Tax Reform Act of 1997).*
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