Government operatives have seized a shipment of some PHP1.2 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, a top police official said Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said the shipment was intercepted around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay Baloyboan, Pagadian City, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur.

Ylagan said the policemen stationed at the Community Police Assistance Center (COMPAC) in Baloyboan were conducting checkpoint operations when they intercepted a wing van truck loaded with cigarettes.

Ylagan said both David Batu-on Franco, the driver, and his assistant, Michael Bryan Tagaytay, 21, failed to present documents to prove that the shipment of the cigarettes is legal.

The truck was loaded with 115 master cases of cigarettes consisting of 91 master cases of Fort and 24 master cases of New Berlin with a market value of PHP1,160,000.

He said the confiscated smuggled cigarettes as well as the truck driver and his assistant were placed under the custody of the Pagadian City police station. (PNA)