ZAMBOANGA CITY – Policemen, acting on reliable information, have seized a shipment of some PHP1.7 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in this city.
The shipment of smuggled cigarettes was seized around 3 p.m. Friday in Barangay San Roque here by a joint team of the Zamboanga City Police Office’s (ZCPO) Criminal Investigation and Detection and Management Unit (CIDMU) and the ZCPO’s Station 7.
Maj. Elmer Solon, CIDMU chief, said Saturday they immediately established a checkpoint after receiving information from a confidential informant that a vehicle loaded with smuggled cigarettes will pass at Barangay San Roque, particularly near the elementary school.
However, Solon said the driver of the van with registered plate number JCU-1743 suddenly disembarked and escaped upon seeing the checkpoint near the school.
“Upon inspection, it was found out that the van matches the description given [to] them by the confidential informant,” he told the Philippine News Agency.
He said the van was found to be loaded with assorted smuggled cigarettes worth PHP1.68 million.
He said the van and the confiscated cigarettes were towed by the city government’s Task Force Ordinance and turned over to the custody of the ZCPO’s Station 7 for proper disposition.
The confiscation Friday was the second shipment of smuggled cigarettes seized in this city since January this year.
The first confiscation worth PHP2.2 million was seized on February 6 at R.T. Lim Boulevard here. (PNA)
