CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Imported cigarettes with an estimated value of P125 million were confiscated by the Bureau of Customs-10 (BOC-10) in a series of operations since last week, a BOC-10 official said.
According to Oliver Valiente, chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), the contraband came from China in two separate shipments.
The first batch, three container vans, was detected by the Customs police sometime last week and the second shipment arrived at the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) sub-port on February 14, he said.
Valiente placed the estimated value of the cargo at P50 million per container van, although the BOC-10 will still determine the actual worth of the cigarettes.
He said they were ordered to monitor the vessels containing the cigarettes, whose brands were Marvels and Two Moons.
The latest cargo, he said, stopped by at the ports of Manila and Davao before proceeding to the MCT. It was subjected to a spot check on February 16. (davaotoday.com)
