PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Law enforcement operatives seized 100 master cases of illegal cigarettes and detained the individual in possession in the town of Brooke’s Point, southern Palawan.

The Provincial Intelligence Unit of the Palawan Police Provincial Office and the Brooke’s Point Municipal Police Station led the operation and confiscated master cases worth P1.45 million in Barangay Saraza, Brooke’s Point, on 10 October at around 10:55 a.m.

An unnamed law enforcement officer said that the operation resulted in the arrest of Manting Utosali Saupi, a 41-year-old local resident who was caught transporting the contraband.

“We received intelligence about the shipment and immediately coordinated efforts to catch them in the act,” the source said.

They confiscated 88 master cases and 20 reams of New Berlin cigarettes, along with multiple master cases of the Fort brand, believed to have originated from Pangutaran, Mindanao.