GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Joint operatives recovered close to PHP1-million worth of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes in a series of operations in two public markets and a warehouse here Thursday.
Armed with 12 search warrants, elements of the city police and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) swooped in on several stalls before noon at the city’s main and Lagao public markets and a warehouse along Cagampang St.
The warrants, which were issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 35 Judge Oscar Noel, were for violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and the Intellectual Property Code.
Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, city police director, said the operations resulted in the recovery of at least 108 boxes of smuggled and fake cigarettes.
At the public markets, he said they found several stalls selling various brands of cigarettes that did not have government-issued tax stamps.
BOC personnel and representatives of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., Inc. uncovered products carrying major brands that have fabricated serial numbers on their seals.
The operating team encountered the same violations in cigarettes stocks seized from a warehouse owned by a local trader identified as Gemma Sala.
Supiter said the seized products included smuggled foreign brands from Indonesia and Bangladesh as indicated in their markings.
These include premium stocks of Gudang Garam, Baru and Cakram.
“These entered through the backdoor, meaning they did not pass our Customs and were not imposed with corresponding taxes,” he said.
The police official was referring to the traditional shipment route from the coastal areas of this city and nearby Sarangani province to nearby Indonesian islands involving motorized boats and small vessels.
In some cases, he said the smugglers mark the boxes to contain toys and even rubber boots to avoid detection by law enforcers.
Supiter said they are currently verifying the owners and consignees of the seized items for the filing of charges.
He said the city police’s intelligence and enforcement personnel are also monitoring the network of smuggled and fake cigarettes, which is believed to be backed by a syndicate.
“This is to address the proliferation of these illegal items in the city,” he said.
Last April, police operatives seized about PHP2-million worth of smuggled cigarettes from Indonesia in a series of raids in Barangays Calumpang and Tambler here.
Some PHP500,000 worth of fake cigarette products were also recovered earlier this week from two traders in Barangay Fatima. (Alejandro Saludo/PNA)
