Fake cigarettes, machines seized from Mandaue warehouse

Local

MULTI-MILLION worth of counterfeit cigarettes were seized when law enforcers raided a warehouse in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City on Saturday afternoon, October 5.

Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Mandaue City Field Unit (CIDG-MCFU) and personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also seized raw materials and various machines needed to manufacture cigarettes.

Capt. Nigel Sanoy, chief of the CIDG-MCFU, said the illegal manufacturing of cigarettes in the warehouse was monitored for more than a year.

Some cigarettes that were seized bore Chinese markings.

Some cigarettes marked with popular brands of cigarettes were manufactured in the warehouse in violation of the National Internal Revenue Code, Sanoy said.

No one was around when the reading team arrived but the company which owns the warehouse has already coordinated with authorities for an investigation, Sanoy added.

According to Sanoy, a group of Chinese businessmen was behind the illegal manufacturing of cigarettes.

Sanoy said it was last year when they were informed about the proliferation of Chinese brand cigarettes that have not been paying taxes.

The report prompted the CIDG to conduct thorough monitoring until the warehouse was discovered.

“The information was that the fake cigarettes were being made in Cebu. They copied popular brands of cigarettes and they also manufacture their own brand,” said Sanoy.

Based on the machines and materials that were seized, a big group was behind the illegal activity, said Sanoy.

Atty. Jay Rozen Bartazan, a member of the legal division of BIR RR13, said the seized raw materials and machines would cost millions.

Bartazan said an investigation will be made to identify the persons responsible for the transporting of the contraband to the warehouse.

Bartazan said it was possible that the owner of the warehouse was unaware of what was happening in the warehouse.

"Our target basically here is the persons who were involved in the entry. The owners of these machines of these illicit cigarettes and not the (warehouse) owners because as we all know, being a warehouse owner, these are businessmen who are conducting their business and anyone can rent and put a product inside the warehouse," said Bartazan.(CDB)