GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Authorities intercepted a truckload of smuggled cigarettes worth more than ₱5.1 million during a checkpoint operation in Barangay Bawing, early morning of September 1, 2025.
Police Regional Office 12 reported that joint operatives from Police Station 5, City Mobile Force Company, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 12, Task Force GenSan, and RID 12 Tracker Teams Golf and Foxtrot flagged down a white Foton Tornado truck at the JTF-CMFC Border Outpost in Purok Cabu around 3:00 a.m.
The truck was driven by a man identified only as “Sahid,” 32, accompanied by his helper “Aldo,” 31, both residents of Vista Village, Polomolok, South Cotabato. Upon inspection, police officers discovered several boxes of undocumented cigarettes in plain view, prompting the arrest of the two men.
Authorities seized 130 boxes, each containing 50 reams of Cannon brand cigarettes, with an estimated market value of ₱5,107,700.
An on-site inventory and markings of the contraband were carried out in the presence of the arrested suspects, a media representative, and a barangay official. The confiscated cigarettes, truck, and the two suspects will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for proper disposition.
Police said the operation forms part of their intensified campaign against smuggling and other forms of illicit trade in the region.