CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Hours after Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Customs commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno and other officials shut down four illegal cigarette factories in different areas in Pampanga, some P70-million worth of illicit tobacco products were seized from a warehouse in San Simon town, the Philippine National Police said on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
In a news release, police said, the latest raid a tip sent by a netizen through text message prompted a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to immediately proceeded to the area and confirmed the presence of illicit cigarette brands inside a business park in Barangay San Pablo Libutad.
Seized were 533 master cases of Modern Green Cigarettes; 455 master cases of Modern Red Cigarettes; 13 master cases of HP Red Cigarettes; one master case of Delta Cigarettes; 45 reams of HP Cigarettes; 35 reams of New Orleans Cigarettes; 25 reams of Delta Cigarettes; 76 packs of Delta Cigarettes; seven packs of Nelson Cigarettes; and two packs of New Orleans Cigarettes.
Assorted tobacco raw materials were also recovered in the storage, reinforcing previous intelligence reports and earlier operations involving the illegal manufacturing and repacking of cigarettes in the country.
Verification with the barangay officials also showed that the warehouse has no business permit.
“This is another proof of what we can achieve if we all work together to enforce the law and maintain peace and order,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a statement. “Criminal elements and syndicates stand no chance to operate and conduct illegal activities in a community that is united and working together towards peace and development.”
Nartatez said the police is now coordinating with concerned government agencies to identify the owner and/or lessee of the warehouse.
He also called on the public to take part in the campaign against the proliferation of illegal cigarettes and report suspicious activities in warehouses in their communities.
Nartatez said concerned citizens may report through the Unified 911 System, assuring them that their identity will be protected. With PNA reports/Photos: PNP
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