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P323-M smuggled cigarettes destroyed in Zamboanga City

Philippines | Luzon

P323-M smuggled cigarettes destroyed in Zamboanga City

By Liza Jocson

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Bureau of Customs destroyed smuggled cigarettes worth P323 million in warehouse here on Thursday, November 30.

ZAMBOANGA City Mayor John Dalipe and Bureau of Customs Port of Zamboanga District Collector Arthur Sevilla during the destruction of smuggled cigarettes in Zamboanga City. (Photo via Liza Jocson)

Drenched with water by Bureau of Fire Protection personnel and crushed by a pay loader were 5,624 master cases and 1,171 reams and these will be disposed of in a sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan here.

Port of Zamboanga District Collector Engr. Arthur Sevilla said that these cigarettes were confiscated from several Customs-controlled checkpoints and maritime patrols in Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

Mayor John Dalipe here witnessed and expressed elation over the destruction, citing his advocacy against the proliferation of smuggled items in this city.

Sevilla said that the seizure and destruction of the contraband resonates with the instruction of Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio to relentlessly combat illicit tobacco trade in the country and forge a close partnership with law enforcement agencies to strengthen the bureau’s anti-smuggling campaign.

Present during the event were officials and personnel from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Internal Revenue and other line agencies, and stakeholders.

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Bureau of Customs Smuggled cigarettes Zamboanga City

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