The Highway Patrol Group-Negros Island Region (HPG-NIR) seized an estimated P50 million in smuggled cigarettes suspected to have come from Mindanao on Saturday, October 11.
They discovered two big and two medium-sized panel vans, one of which contained the cigarettes while the rest were empty, at a mini port in Purok-6, Brgy Nagbo-alao, Basay, Negros Oriental, PLt. Edwin Santos, Special Operations Team chief of the HPG-NIR Investigation Section, said on Sunday.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) estimated the seized cigarettes at about P50 million, he said.
No one was arrested as the individuals involved abandoned the vehicles when they detected that there were HPG-NIR operatives in the area, he said.
“Our information was that the cigarettes were up for distribution within the Negros Island Region,” Santos said.
The information they gathered also indicated that the cigarettes came from Mindanao, but this needs to be validated, he added.*