COTABATO CITY (September 23, 2025) — Policemen seized P3.4 million worth of imported cigarettes in separate operations in two Mindanao provinces in just two days.
Officials of the Police Regional Office-9 said on Tuesday, September 22, that policemen in a checkpoint in Barangay San Pedro in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay intercepted on Thursday, September 18, a blue Toyota Revo loaded with P1.7 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia.
Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta, director of PRO-9, told reporters on Tuesday that the driver of the vehicle was to deliver the contraband to contacts in different barangays in Tungawan and in nearby towns in Zamboanga Sibugay.
Matta said operatives from the Tungawan Municipal Police Station also impounded the vehicle carrying the cigarettes with different Indonesian brands.
“The driver of that vehicle has volunteered to help investigators identify the merchant behind that smuggling attempt for prosecution,” Matta said.
A police team found last Friday, September 19, a maroon Toyota Tamaraw FX, full of imported cigarettes, along a street in Barangay Tulay in Jolo, the capital town of Sulu.
Matta, citing reports from the Jolo Municipal Police Station, said the vehicle, carrying P1.7 million worth of cigarettes from Indonesia, was abandoned by its driver after sensing the presence of policemen in a checkpoint a few meters ahead.
The imported cigarettes policemen had confiscated in Zamboanga Sibugay and in Sulu had been turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition.
Photo shows the vehicle loaded with imported cigarettes abandoned along a street in Barangay Tulay in Jolo, now in police custody.