PLARIDEL, Bulacan—More than P600 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized by Bureau of Customs (BOC) through a raid operation in an industrial warehouse complex in this town on Wednesday.
BOC Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno with his team confiscated 8,647 boxes or 10,000 packs with 86,470,000 pieces of imported cigarette Bros, Modern, New Berlin, Commando, Nelson, Nise Menthol, Nise Baisha that are smuggled from China and Vietnam in in Building No. A-6 inside Philippine Asia Corporation in Barangay Bulihan in this town.
Nepomuceno said the cigarettes are for distribution to different dealers and stores in Central Luzon.
The smuggled goods do not bear tax stamps from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and no graphic health warning from the Department of Health which signified illegal entry to the country.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) raiding team also found and seized a 40ft container van loaded with the same smuggled cigarettes.
The teams arrested Randy Guevarra Ngo, a Filipino-Chinese national who is renting the warehouse. Also artested is Benjie Buenafe Diocades, the container van driver and his helper Joan Pagkaliwagan.
According to Nepomuceno, through information given by members of the community in the area, they confirmed the presence of the illegal goods through a surveillance on Aug. 22.
Nepomuceno said their action is in compliance with the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop illicit cigarettes from Infiltrating legitimate trade channels and protect the welfare of our citizens.
Nepomuceno also said that they will conduct a deeper investigation to pinpoint the syndicate behind the operation of the smuggled cigarettes.
The arrested suspects are detained inside the Enforcement Security (ESS) Headquarters of the BOC in Port of Manila as charges of violation to Section 263 or the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 as amended, National Tobacco Administration (NTA) Memorandum Circular No. 02 s.2020 and section 1113 of Republic Act No. 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernazation and Tariff Act (CMTA).
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