Police seized alleged smuggled cigarettes worth more than P1.6 million in separate operations in Tawi-Tawi and Sulu over the weekend.

Authorities reportedly received a tip from an informant about a suspicious motorized boat loaded with boxes of assorted cigarettes, prompting the operatives to launch an operation.

According to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), the suspicious cargo was being unloaded from the boat and transferred to a warehouse along the coastal area in Barangay Lamion, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.

The owner of the warehouse and the caretakers were not around during the raid.

Up to 85 master cases and 163 reams of cigarettes were confiscated from the warehouse.

Meanwhile, the troops of the Patikul Municipal Police Station and 4th Regional Mobile Force Company in Sulu seized nearly P400,000 worth of alleged smuggled cigarettes in Barangay Tandu Bagua.

Police said the operation stemmed from a report by a concerned citizen that boxes of cigarettes were abandoned on the shore.

Investigators believed that the items were supposed to be transported outside the province.

The confiscated cigarettes will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs.