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