Authorities inventory the contraband cigarettes seized in Digos City on Wednesday. (Photo by ELDIE S. AGUIRRE / Inquirer Mindanao)
DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — Authorities are stepping their watch for cigarette smugglers here and in other parts of Davao del Sur province after another one was busted last Wednesday.
Some 73,647 packs of cigarettes were seized by a combined team from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) led by Maj. Benjie Santos on Wednesday in a makeshift warehouse in Barangay Zone 1 here.
According to a statement from the BIR Revenue Region 19 based in Davao City, the cigarettes were contained in 141 master cases and should have earned the government about P4,418,820 in basic excise tax, at P60 per pack.
This is the second raid against contraband cigarettes this year. The first one, in Barangay Tres de Mayo on Jan. 12 netted 820 master cases.
The tax agency said the distribution of smuggled cigarettes in Davao del Sur has become rampant, noting the previous operations in the past months in Bansalan, Digos City, and Malalag.
Digos City Mayor Josef Cagas earlier asked law enforcers to keep a close watch on the city’s coastal communities as these were reportedly used to transport into the province the contraband cigarettes.