By Lizbeth Ann Abella/PNA
TACLOBAN CITY — Some PHP385.2 million worth of fake cigarettes and machines were seized when authorities raided a warehouse in this city Wednesday.
The raiding team from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Tacloban also seized machines, counterfeit tax stamps and imported raw materials at a warehouse in Bagacay village.
BOC Tacloban district collector Jose Naig said the warehouse that has been manufacturing counterfeit products contained 1,500 cartons of fake cigarettes with a total value of PHP96 million, 12 machines worth PHP180 million and PHP62.2 million worth of fake stamps.
Naig said the warehouse allegedly owned by Chinese nationals has been under surveillance for two weeks prior to the raid.
“No one has claimed to own this warehouse yet, even the village officials have no knowledge about this manufacturer, but we will conduct further investigation to make those involved liable,” Naig added.
Said machines are said to produce an average of 600 master cases of cigarettes per day.
The brand owner of said cigarettes who refused to be identified confirmed that recovered items were fake. He added that they do not allow manufacturing of their cigarettes outside their factory in Luzon and they only have distributors in the city.
Counterfeit items also bore fake tax stamps having the same serial numbers. All of the stamps were lighter in color than that of the genuine ones.
“They are not paying the government PHP42 million worth of excise tax, just for these items, we cannot tolerate that,” Naig stressed.
The fake products were concealed in rain boot boxes and other electronic gadgets. They only used codes when they are being transported to other areas.
Authorities have yet to determine the extent of distribution of said fake cigarettes.
