PNP probes possible link in P2.6B cigarette seizures in Batangas, Malabon

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday said it is investigating a possible connection between two large-scale seizures of allegedly smuggled cigarettes worth a combined P2.6 billion in Batangas City and Malabon City on New Year’s Eve.

PNP Acting Chief Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. ordered the police units to determine whether the P1.5-billion seizure in Malabon City is linked to the earlier confiscation of P1.1 billion worth of undocumented cigarettes in Batangas City.

The two operations were conducted on the same day and involved large volumes of tobacco products, prompting authorities to examine whether a single smuggling network was responsible.

“We are now looking into the possible link between the undocumented tobacco products we seized in Batangas and that in Malabon,” Nartatez said, citing ongoing intelligence work and coordination with other government agencies to establish whether the same group and method were involved.

Nartatez said the PNP is working with the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and other law enforcement agencies to trace the source, distribution routes, and possible financiers behind the seized cigarettes.

In Batangas City, elements of the PNP Highway Patrol Group discovered the P1.1-billion worth of alleged smuggled cigarettes on the morning of December 31 while conducting an anti-carnapping operation.

Later that night, the same police unit seized about P1.5 billion worth of suspected smuggled cigarettes at a dockyard in Malabon City, also during an anti-carnapping operation.

Nartatez said the scale of the seizures suggests the involvement of organized groups, noting that the cigarettes were stored in large quantities and appeared to be part of a coordinated logistics operation. 

“These two cases are serious offenses. We will exhaust all the measures to identify those responsible, we will get to the bottom of this case,” he warned.

Investigators are continuing to examine evidence from both operations to determine whether the cases are connected and to identify those behind the shipments.