ZAMBOANGA CITY – Four suspects were arrested while some PHP850,000 worth of smuggled cigarettes were seized by policemen in an anti-smuggling operation in Dumingag town, Zamboanga del Sur province, a police official said Friday.
Suspects Ahmad Latip Amil, 34; Salin Sandi Mansul, 26; Malling Mohamad, 21, all of Zamboanga City; and Ujim Bain Ujak, 35 of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi were arrested at a checkpoint in Barangay Lower Landing, Dumingag town on Thursday, according to Col. Diomarie Albarico, Zamboanga del Sur police director.
Police officers discovered that the utility van was loaded with boxes of cigarettes.
Amil, the van driver, and his three companions were arrested after failing to present documents of the cigarettes they were transporting from Zamboanga City to Cagayan de Oro City.
Confiscated during the operation were 16 master cases and 49 reams of Union cigarettes with an estimated market value of PHP850,000.
The arrested suspects and confiscated items are now under the custody of the Dumingag municipal police station and will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for proper disposition.
In a similar operation on Tuesday, a policeman and his alleged cohort were arrested in Barangay Culo, Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.
Seized from the two were 16 master cases of smuggled cigarettes worth PHP560,000, a loaded 9-mm Glock pistol, a sports utility vehicle, and the boodle money used in the entrapment. (PNA)
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