The Police Highway Patrol Group seized smuggled cigarettes worth P25 million inside an abandoned delivery van in Basay town in Negros Oriental on Saturday.
In its report, the Negros Regional Highway Patrol Unit said the smuggled items were discovered after the RHPU responded to information that four delivery vans had been abandoned in Purok 6 in Barangay Nagbola-ao.
Lt. Edwin Santos, RHPU intelligence chief, said 500 large boxes, each containing P50,000 worth of cigarettes, were found in one of the abandoned vans.
Prior to the seizure, the operatives coordinated with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which issued a mission order to conduct operations against violators of Republic Act 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Sabotage Act.