Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on email
Email

P2M in counterfeit cigarettes seized in Negros, Iloilo

• GILBERT P. BAYORAN

Authorities seize counterfeit cigarettes seized at a public market in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.* RMU 6 photo

About P2M worth of counterfeit cigarettes were seized by authorities on October 12, in separate operations in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, and Iloilo City.

Maritime Command police operatives seized about P900,000 worth of counterfeit cigarettes on Oct. 12 at the public market in Purok Malipayon, Barangay Makiling, Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

The confiscation of fake cigarettes led to the arrest of two suspects identified as siblings Nasif, 25, and Sadik Amer, 21, both residents of Purok Gardenia, Brgy. Balintawak, Escalante City, Negros Occidental, while their three companions, identified only through their aliases, Ben, Ricky, and Panta, managed to escape.

Both were caught selling assorted brands of counterfeit cigarettes.

Recovered by the PNP Maritime Command operatives led by PCapt. Reynaldo Bauden Jr., assisted by representatives of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and Sagay City police, were 1462 reams and 162 packs of assorted brands of counterfeit cigarettes, valued at P892,385.

Authorities on Saturday seized P1.1 million worth of fake cigarettes and arrested a local trader in Iloilo for violation of Republic Act (RA) 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

Armed with a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court 6 Branch 39, agents led by the intelligence unit of the Iloilo City Police Office inspected the house of a 57-year-old businessman in Sitio Kawayanan, Barangay Tabuc Suba, La Paz, Iloilo.

The arrested suspects are facing charges for violation of Sections 155 (infringement), 168 (unfair competition) in relation to 169 (false designation of origin, false description or representation), and 170 (cancellation of design registration) of RA 8293.

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) reported that Visayas is fast catching up to be the region with the highest illegal cigarettes incidence at 6 percent, just a little shy of the 8 percent recorded in Luzon island, while the region of Mindanao is the epicenter of the illegal tobacco trade with an incidence of 45 percent.*

ARCHIVES

Read Article by date

February 2025
MTWTFSS
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728 

Get your copy of the Visayan Daily Star everyday!

Avail of the FREE 30-day trial.