PCG seizes smuggled cigarettes from China

MANILA, Philippines - Exactly 2,000 boxes of cigarettes from China were seized at the port of Currimao in Ilocos Norte on Wednesday night.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) impounded the Taiwanese fishing boat that brought the contraband and prevented the three Taiwanese and four Indonesian crewmen from disembarking.

PCG spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the Taiwanese skipper, Chen Yon Ji, and his six officers and crew were confined to their ship.

“They remain in their boat,” he said. “They are not allowed to leave their boat.”

The Taiwan Coast Guard had tipped them that a fishing boat carrying cigarettes would be arriving at the port of Currimao, he added.

Chief Petty Officer Reynaldo Garcia of the PCG’s Currimao station said the fishing boat had docked at Currimao several times this year.

The contraband had been offloaded and was being transferred to a truck when coastguardsmen seized them, he added.

The cigarettes carried the brands MM (black packed) charcoal and MM (white packed) charcoal, all made in Europe; and Golden Bridge, PRC and Dubliss, all made in China.