Mayor Pablo C. Ortega led the destruction of over 2,200 boxes of smuggled fake Mild Seven cigarettes, worth P29 million, at the Soiltech compound, near the seaport yard here, March 18, upon the Order of Destruction directive of Bureau of Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales.
Lawyer Rhona Vergara, who represented Japan Tobacco Incorporated (JTI), the original manufacturer of Mild Seven, told The BULLETIN that the cigarettes shipment was from China and was on the way to Vietnam when they were seized at Poro Point. Some of the shipment was coincidentally confiscated by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) from the Port of Salomague in Cabugao,Ilocos Sur. Based on laboratory results conducted by experts of the JTI, the cigarettes were fake according to Vergara.
Bernadette Baviera, head of CIIS at the Port of San Fernando, in a separate interview that the cigarette were separately brought through container trucks at a warehouse near the seaport here and at the Salumague Port but they were abandoned later, which a consignee allegedly used a fictitious name under a Vietnam cigarette firm.
The destruction later, of the cigarettes was done through shredding machine with Customs personnel headed by Isidro Pre, deputy collector for operations, other city officials and JTI representatives.
Mayor Ortega ordered the disposal of the shredded cigarette materials at the sanitary landfill here. |
