₱188M worth of smuggled cigarettes destroyed at CDO port

Pampanga raids nets ₱200 million worth of tobacco products, machines

On Mar 12, 2026

Customs Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno, gives a final look at some of the smuggled cigarettes seized by the Collection District of Cagayan de Oro, before their destruction (photo: BOC-PIAD).

THE Port of Cagayan de Oro destroyed ₱188M worth of smuggled cigarettes that it seized during its relentless anti-smuggling operations ordered by Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno.

District Collector Atty. Manuel O. Zurbito Jr., said the contrabands were seized during a series intelligence-driven enforcement operations across Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon, and Camiguin.

4,360 master cases and 10 reams of illicit cigarettes, along with 24 sets and 37 pieces of vape juice were rendered useless through hydrolysis and physical destruction that was held at the Subport of Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental last February 16 and personally witnessed by Commissioner Nepomuceno.

Three days previously, from February 13 to the following day, a joint enforcement operation by the BOC and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) resulted to the shutdown of two more illicit cigarette manufacturing facilities in Mexico and San Simon, both in the province of Pampanga.

The BOC said over P200 million worth of tobacco products, cigarette-making machines, and raw materials were confiscated.