P200-M worth of fake cigarettes seized in Valenzuela

Authorities seized on Thursday about P200 million worth of fake cigarettes in Valenzuela City as unscrupulous traders tried to fill the gap left by dwindling supply of tax-paid sticks amid the lockdown.

Operatives of the Bureau of Customs and Valenzuela’s Philippine National Police raided a warehouse located at Cabral Industrial Park in Barangay Lawang Bato and confiscated 280 master cases (140,000 packs) of assorted counterfeit cigarettes.

The warehouse was allegedly registered under JLA Plastic Marketing. It had two caretakers—Juanito Arcilla and Lin Lianci alias Simon Lin, both Filipino-Chinese. —Ben O. de Vera