Smuggled cigarettes with an estimated value of P121 million were seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Port of Subic on Aug 22.
Various brands of cigarettes found in the shipment originated from China and Hong Kong, Customs said in a statement on Saturday.
The container of the smuggled cigarettes was misdeclared as containing “frozen cinnamon bread, frozen pineapple pocket bread, snake and ladder board games, dominos board games and rubber strips,” the bureau said.
District Collector Maritess Martin said it was the first time Customs seized smuggled cigarettes in a refrigerated container van.
“It is a general knowledge that cigarettes cannot be stored in high moisture containers like reefer vans, yet the smugglers found their means on how to use this kind of transportation,” the bureau said.
The Bureau’s Action Team Against Smugglers (Batas) will file criminal charges against the alleged smugglers.
The bureau also reported a total revenue collection of P2,395,500,885 from August 1-27, 16.8 percent higher than the target for the month of August.
On Aug. 28, smuggled fake cigarettes worth P36 million were seized in the Port of Manila. A day earlier, P64.4 million worth of misdeclared cigarettes from Guangdong, China were intercepted in the Port of Batangas. Ma. Veracel A. Martinez