THE Bureau of Customs Port of Cagayan de Oro led by district collector Manuel Zorbito destroyed a total of P188 million worth of smuggled cigarettes February 16 during a ceremony held at the Mindanao Container Terminal sub-port.
The destruction was witnessed himself by deputy commissioner Romeo Alan Rosales who remarked that “we have a zero tolerance for illicit tobacco, illicit vape and smuggling of agricultural products.”
The seized cigarettes were accumulated in the period of two years from 2024 to 2025 amounting to a total of 4,360 master cases.
To understand tobacco logistics, a typical master case contains 50 cartons. Each carton contains ten packs. Therefore, the cigarettes confiscated and turned over to the Bureau of Customs Port of Cagayan de Oro in 2024 to 2025 totaled around more than two million packs.
This was the result of separate operations spread over a two-year period by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Unit 10, the Misamis Oriental provincial police office, the Lanao del Sur provincial police office, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the 103rd Infantry Battalion and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Representatives of each agency mentioned were personally handed out a token of appreciation by Rosales during the event.
“Magtulong-tulongan po tayo para matigil natin ‘to,” he said.
In his speech, Rosales further congratulated Zorbito for exceeding the colleciton target last year and again last January.
The cigarettes were sprayed with water from a Burea of Fire Protection (BFP) hose, run over by a roller and buried in an accredited waste facility.
The visit also coincided with the national celebration of the 124th anniversary of the Bureau of Customs.
