The Bureau of Customs identified the owner of the confiscated materials as a certain Mister Chan, a Taiwanese who operates businesses in this city. Customs officials in two warehouses in this city confiscated some P10 million worth of counterfeit popular cigarette brands on Wednesday, October 12.
Officials from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) central office swoop down on two warehouses near Cogon Market, and found hundreds of boxes of cigarettes brands, including Marlboro, Lucky Strike, Winstons, and Camel.
A technical expert from Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC) confirmed that the confiscated cigarettes bearing their brands were fake after he scanned the seals with an app from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The seal on a legitimate cigarette pack, when scanned, will show its BIR registration code while the fake ones will show “Invalid” or unidentified seal.