More than half a million packs of cigarettes with fake BIR stamps seized

The Bureau of Internal Revenue seized more than half a million packs of cigarettes bearing fake BIR stamps in two separate raids on Friday and Saturday.

The BIR National Office Strike Force Team first conducted a raid on a house on Don Manuel Agregado Street in Barangay Sto. Domingo in Quezon City at 9 p.m. Friday, GMA News' Vonne Aquino reported on Super Radyo dzBB.

The team confiscated 600 boxes of fake cigarettes (300,000 packs) with fake BIR stamps or without any stamp at all.

The BIR could tell if a stamp is fake or not by using a taggant reader.

When the taggant reader becomes green, the stamp is authentic. If it turns red, the stamp is fake.

Since each BIR stamp is worth P35, the total amount of BIR stamps that should have been paid by the owner of the cigarettes is P105 million including penalty.

Two employees working at the warehouse said the owner promised to pay them P16,000 to P18,000 as monthly salary.

They also said they do not know where the cigarettes were to be delivered.

In Aquino's report on GMA News TV's Balitanghali, Revenue Officer Sonny Advincula, head of the BIR strike team, pointed out that some of the cigarette packs bore labels of a manufacturer that was not registered with the BIR. 

"Supposedly, Mighty ito," he said, referring to the cigarette giant Mighty Corporation. "Pero ginawa nilang 'Belmont'. Hindi ito rehistrado," he added.

Caloocan

At 2 a.m. Saturday, the BIR strike force team conducted a raid on a house on Cabatuan Street corner P. Halili Street in Caloocan City.

The team confiscated 500 boxes of fake cigarettes or 250,000 packs of cigarettes with fake BIR stamps.

The BIR said the owner should pay P87.5 million for the BIR stamps including penalty.

The internal revenue agency said the fake cigarettes were to be delivered to provinces to be sold there.

They said that in Metro Manila, more people are aware of fake cigarettes so those who do not pay the proper BIR taxes bring such cigarettes to provinces instead.

According to Aquino's report on Balitanghali, authorities have gone to the homes of the two people who supposedly own the seized goods, but the people in their houses reportedly refused to give statements.

The BIR said it will issue a letter notice to the owners of the cigarettes, which gives them 15 days to submit their replies.

"Iisyuhan namin ng letter notice immediately. Within 15 days dapat mag-reply sila. And then we will file a case with the Department of Justice if the evidence so warrant," Advincula said.

The agency said the owners may pay the right amount of taxes with penalty.

However, it is still up to the BIR if charges of unlawful possession of internal revenue stamps will be filed against the owners.

The confiscated cigarettes were brought to the BIR office.

If the fake cigarettes were to be sold at a price of P60 per pack, the confiscated cigarettes would amount to P33 million.

"Kaya bumagsak ang excise tax natin dahil sa mga maraming hindi nagre-rehistro na gumagawa ng sigarilyo," Avincula remarked.

Some P3.3 billion worth of Mighty Corp. cigarettes were destroyed by the government in December last year due to the fake tax stamps on them.

GMA News Online is contacting Mighty Corp. for comment as of posting time. —With Margaret Claire Layug/KG, GMA News