Cotabato City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
COTABATO CITY – Police authorities, responding to a tip from a concerned citizen, recovered abandoned boxes of smuggled cigarettes awaiting to be transported to unknown areas beside the Rio Grande de Mindanao here on Saturday.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, police regional director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said a total of 74 boxes of smuggled cigarettes believed to be from Malaysia or Indonesia was estimated to cost P1,480,000.
Nobleza said a civilian alerted police operatives in the city about the contraband.
Police immediately sent troops to verify the report and discovered the contraband covered by tarpaulin near the Rio Grande de Mindanao in Purok Nguyan, Barangay Kalanganan 2.
Nobleza said when police inquired with the residents nearby, everyone said they had no idea who owned the items, prompting the police to confiscate them.
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The 74 boxes of cigarettes are now under the custody of Cotabato City Police Station 3 and are set for turnover to the Bureau of Customs.
The recovery of smuggled cigarettes came a few days after four crew of two pumpboats from Zamboanga Sibugay were attacked by pirates near Bongo Island in Parang, Maguindanao.
Two of the crews were rescued by fisherfolks in Datu Blah Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.
They told police they were transporting smuggled cigarettes to Maguindanao when the pirates attacked, ordered them to jump overboard, and then took their seacrafts and the contraband.
Police could not say if the smuggled items seized in Cotabato City were part of the seized contraband.
On February 4, police in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte confiscated 150 boxes worth P2.7 million worth of smuggled cigarettes following a tip from a concerned citizen.
Three persons–a driver, and two truck helpers–were also arrested during the operation in Barangay Dalumangcob, Sultan Kudarat town, according to municipal station commander Lt. Colonel Esmael Madin.