PNP chief wants financiers of cigarette smuggling identified

MANILA – Philippine National Police (PNP) acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. on Sunday ordered a thorough investigation to arrest those involved in bankrolling large-scale cigarette smuggling operations in the country.

“Your Philippine National Police has been successful in confiscating every smuggled cigarette that we monitor in our intelligence radar. While arrests were also made, we want to dig deeper to identify the financiers and hold them accountable for their illegal activities,” Nartatez said in a statement.

Nartatez’s directive came after the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Highway Patrol Group (HPG)-Metro Manila teams intercepted PHP516 million worth of illegal cigarettes on Friday.

He said the PNP-HPG also discovered some PHP1.1 billion worth of alleged smuggled cigarettes in an anti-car theft operation in Batangas City on Dec. 31, 2025.

On the same day, another PNP-HPG team seized about PHP1.5 billion of suspected smuggled cigarettes at a dockyard in Malabon City.

Nartatez said the PNP’s campaign is in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to purge the government of corruption and intensify the national crackdown on illicit trade that bleeds the economy of vital tax revenue.

Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian had filed a resolution seeking inquiry into reports that high-ranking security officers are providing funds for the illegal trade.

Nartatez said the PNP will cooperate fully with the Senate and other concerned authorities to deter smuggling. (PNA)