Manila: The Highway Patrol Group-Negros Island Region (HPG-NIR) seized two delivery vans carrying smuggled cigarettes in Basay, Negros Oriental. Master Sgt. Aurelio Bodo, chief of the Highway Patrol Team-Negros Oriental, reported that the vans were discovered abandoned in Purok 6, Barangay Nagbo-alao.
According to Philippines News Agency, a joint team led by the HPG, with support from Basay police, the Provincial Intelligence Unit of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office, and the Special Operations Unit of the Maritime Group, secured the contraband. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Revenue District Office 79 conducted a physical inventory of the cigarettes.
The value of the seized cigarettes is yet to be determined, as stated by Bodo. The vehicles and the smuggled cigarettes have been transported to the HPG-NIR in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental for further validation and proper disposition.