POLICEMEN, backed by other government personnel, manning quarantine checkpoint have intercepted some P300,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, the police said Wednesday, March 18.
Police Major Helen Galvez, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula information officer, said the smuggled cigarettes were intercepted aboard a multi-cab van around 2 a.m. Wednesday at Purok 3 in the village of Guitran, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur.
Galvez said the driver of the van, Ablex Bandrang Macaraya, 35, failed to present documents to prove legality of the shipment when the policemen, backed by personnel from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and Regional Health Unit (RHU), questioned him.
She said confiscated were some 27 master cases of different brands of cigarettes, which, including Bandrang and the vehicle, were turned over to the custody the police in Dumingag town.
Formal charges are set to be filed against Macaraya, she added. (SunStar Zamboanga)