Smuggled cigarettes seized in Medan

Smuggled cigarettes seized in Medan

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The Customs and Excise authority in
Belawan Port, near Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, have
seized three containers laden with hundreds of thousands of
cigarettes smuggled into Medan from China.

The smugglers previously tried to deceive officials by
manipulating the manifest of the containers. They wrote glass
coasters instead of cigarettes on the manifest.

"We have now seized them and have started to question the
owner of the three containers, PT UK. The cigarettes are from
China," said Cerah Bangun of Belawan's Customs and Excise Office
on Monday.

Two of the containers were filled with Marlboro cigarettes and
the rest with Ardath. The smuggling of foreign brands of
cigarettes is rampant in North Sumatra. -- Antara