SMUGGLED CIGARETTES. Police operatives in Glan town, Sarangani province conduct an inventory of recovered smuggled cigarettes abandoned by fleeing smugglers at the coastline of Barangay Glan Padidu on Tuesday evening (Nov. 22, 2023). A concerned citizen tipped off the police on the smuggled cigarettes being unloaded in the area. (Photo courtesy of PRO-Soccsksargen)
KORONADAL CITY – Police seized over PHP1.2 million worth of imported smuggled cigarettes in quake-hit Glan town, Sarangani province on Tuesday evening after acting on a tip by a concerned citizen.
“The cigarettes were abandoned near the coastline of Barangay Glan Padidu in Glan town at past 9 p.m.,” Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, police director for the Soccsksargen region, said in a report Wednesday.
Macaraeg said the smugglers, led by Renante Galos and two unidentified cohorts, fled on a motorboat upon sensing the approaching police officers.
The contraband, covered in tarpaulin, is believed to be from Indonesia and reportedly intended for Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.
The 28 boxes of cigarette contraband are now in the custody of the Glan municipal police office.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck Glan, Sarangani on Tuesday morning, three days following a tremor that killed four people and injured 61. The quake was also felt in six regions in Mindanao. (PNA)
