GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police operatives arrested two alleged distributors of counterfeit cigarettes in separate operations over the weekend in the South Cotabato town of Polomolok.
Chief Supt. Eliseo Rasco, Police Regional Office-12 director said in a report released on Monday that suspects Fajad Gawagay Matumadi, 18, and Mano Mila Compas, 51, were nabbed during separate entrapment operations on Saturday afternoon that yielded some 2,686 assorted reams of fake cigarettes.
Rasco said joint elements of the South Cotabato police’s intelligence branch and the Polomolok municipal police station initially conducted a test-buy on Matumadi at around 4 p.m. at his house along Ilang-Ilang Street in Poblacion.
A member of the operating team was able to buy from the suspect two reams of fake Mighty menthol (green) cigarettes worth P500, the police official said.
In a subsequent search, Rasco said the operatives recovered from Matumadi’s possession some P1,050 reams of Mighty green cigarettes, 150 reams each of More and Mighty full flavor (red), 100 reams of Jackpot, 50 reams of Marvel brands, and the P500 marked bill.
At around 4:30 p.m., the team staged another test-buy in Purok Manatad, Poblacion against Compas, who sold a ream of Mighty premium cigarette worth P400 to a police officer posing as a buyer.
Compas yielded 587 reams of fake Mighty cigarettes, 281 reams of More, 175 reams of Marvel, 102 reams of Fortune, 75 reams of Champion and 64 reams of Jackpot brands, he said.
Rasco said the team also seized a unit of Honda CB-125 motorcycle with sidecar owned by Compas.
Investigators are tracking down the networks of the suspects and the sources of the fake products, which are currently undergoing verification and valuation, he said.
The suspects, who were detained at the Polomolok municipal police station lockup, will be charged for violation of Republic Act 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.-PNA
