CITY OF STO. TOMAS, Batangas – TWO persons were arrested and 20 master cases of smuggled cigarettes were confiscated in an entrapment operation of the elements of National Bureau of Investigation – Batangas District Office (NBI-BatangasDO) in this city, Thursday afternoon.
Regional Director Olivo Ramos of NBI Region 4A positively identified the apprehended suspects as Angelo Azur and Argie Garcia who were about to deliver the boxes of Carnival to the undercover agents of the NBI.
The duo were presented for inquest proceedings at the City Prosecutor’s Office of the City of Sto. Tomas on charges of violating the Republic Act 12022, otherwise known as the “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Sabotage Act of 2024”.
Prior to the buy bust and entrapment operation, the agency gathered an information on the unscrupulous transportation and sale of smuggled cigarettes at a lower price than the prevailing prices at the market.
Acting on the said information, the NBI-Batangas District Office planned the operation and offered to buy 20 master cases of 10,000 packs of the said cigarette for the amount of Four Hundred Eighty Thousand Pesos (Php 480,000.00).
The suspects were arrested after receiving the marked money.
Ramos noted that the continued proliferation and sale of the illegally manufactured or smuggled cigarettes deprive the government of sizeable taxes and deprives the rightful manufacturers who observes the legal processes of manufacturing, transporting and selling.
Batangas province is hosts to two big manufacturers of cigarettes in the country, the Japan
Tobacco International with its manufacturing plant in Lima Estate in the town of Malvar, and the Philip Morris International and its affiliate, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC) in Tanauan City.
Rampant smuggling
From January to August 2024, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has seized around PHP1 billion worth of smuggled cigarettes in Western Mindanao during police operations from January to August 25 this year.
In a statement on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Bernard Banac, Area Police Command-Western Mindanao director, said the operations in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi led to the arrest of 61 people and confiscation of 137,738 reams of smuggled cigarettes.
Banac said five smuggling cases were filed before the local fiscal offices while 50 others were recommended for appropriate action to the Bureau of Customs.
In September, Authorities have intercepted more than PHP18 million worth of smuggled cigarettes found abandoned in two cargo trucks in Parang town, Maguindanao del Norte province, a police official said Monday.| – Joenald Medina Rayos with reports from Edwin Fernandez, Christopher Lloyd Caliwan and Ferdinand Patinio of PNA