Fake cigarettes seized; 3 sellers nabbed

Police have arrested a third suspect selling smuggled and fake cigarettes at a public market in Guiginto, Bulacan, not far from where two others were captured earlier by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Operatives of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Bulacan, under Police Chief Insp. Patrick Ramillano, nabbed Eva Bulante who was caught red-handed selling fake Mighty Corp. products at the Sta. Rita Public Market in Guiguinto.

Bulante was charged with violating Section 155 in relation to Section 170 of Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, following a criminal complaint filed by a Mighty representative.

Earlier, NBI agents collared Guillermo B. Ediesca and Jonathan E. Jimenez while selling counterfeit Mighty Full Flavor and Menthol 100’s soft-pack variants at a sari-sari store in Bocaue, Bulacan.

Among the discrepancies were the cigarette quality and the print packaging such as misspelling of the word “Manufactured” to “Manufacture” and the absence of an obscure manufacturing code on the packs, among others.

To curb the proliferation of illicit cigarettes in the country, Mighty has destroyed cartons of seized fake and untaxed cigarettes.

The counterfeit cigarettes were part of a large cache of bogus products seized last month by authorities inside a warehouse in Sta. Cruz, Manila.