CAMP Vicente Lim – A composite team of police operatives and internal revenue agents have confiscated about P28.9 million worth of smuggled cigarettes and arrested 33 suspected members of a smuggling syndicate in a raid conducted Thursday morning in Batangas.
The raiding team was composed of operatives from the Regional Intelligence Division Special Operations Unit, Intelligence Units of Batangas Police Provincial Office and the Bureau of Internal Revenue Region No. 9A-CABAMIRO (Cavite-Batangas-Oriental Mindoro-Occidental Mindoro-Romblon), assisted by elements of the Agoncillo police station in Batangas.
Police said the buy-bust money amounting to P200,000 was also recovered from three suspects during the initial stage of the operation.
A larger follow-up operation was staged following the buy-buy at Brgy Adia in Agoncillo town, leading to the arrest of an additional 30 suspects, indicating that the cigarette smuggling in Batangas was bigger than what appeared on the surface.
Those rounded up consisted of 22 Filipinos and eight Chinese nationals.
The follow-up operation resulted in the seizure of 331 boxes of smuggled cigarettes estimated at over P21.8 million. The raiders also confiscated four cigarette machines, 30 sacks of pure tobacco, and packaging materials.
The production machines and other equipment, raw materials, vehicles, and other confiscated items were estimated at P300 million.
“This illegal trade of smuggled cigarettes undermines legitimate businesses, deprives the government of crucial tax revenue, and poses a direct threat to the economic well-being of our community. By dismantling this network, we are not just upholding the law; we are safeguarding the economic interests and prosperity of our country,” Region 4-A police chief Brig. Gen. Paul Kenneth Lucas said in a statement.