POLICE authorities have seized close to half-a-million pesos worth of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga City, an official said Friday, February 19, 2021.

Police Captain Edwin Duco, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula information officer, said the smuggled cigarettes were seized around 5:40 a.m. Thursday at Zone 1 in Cawit village, this city.

Duco said the cigarettes packed in 49 master cases were loaded into two vehicles, which were abandoned by the owners upon sensing the arrival of the policemen.

The confiscated cigarettes had an estimated value of P490,000.

Duco said the confiscated smuggled cigarettes and the two vehicles were placed under the temporary custody of the Zamboanga City Police Office’s Station 9.

He said an investigation was ongoing to determine the ownership of the smuggled cigarettes and the two vehicles. (SunStar Zamboanga)