MANILA: The Bureau of Customs (BOC) destroyed close to P10 million worth of smuggled cigarettes seized in this city, a BOC official announced.
Lawyer Halleck Valdez, BOC district collector, said the cigarettes, consisting of 1,185 boxes, were first soaked with water before these were crushed by a bulldozer.
Valdez said the confiscated cigarettes were destroyed Wednesday afternoon at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan.
Valdez said the boxes of cigarettes they destroyed have an estimated worth of P9.4 million.
He said the cigarettes were confiscated since last year for violation of Section 119 of the Tariff and Customs Laws of the Philippines.
He said the cigarettes were seized by BOC personnel in coordination with other law enforcement agencies like the coastguard and navy.
“These (cigarettes) had been there (in the warehouse) for quite sometimes and then it was abandoned (by the owners). So I issued an abandonment and seizure order and after that I issued a condemnation order,” he said.
He said the destruction of the cigarettes should serve as lesson to traders from engaging into illegal business “because we will not allow smuggling in this part of the country.”
