The Bureau of Internal Revenue said it confiscated P206.6 million worth of counterfeit tax stamps and several units of machines used for printing them and packaging bogus cigarette brands in a recent joint operation with police and local government officials in a factory in Villasis, Pangasinan.
BIR deputy commissioner Arnel Guballa reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that the operation in September yielded fake tax stamps worth P6.6 million. Twenty units of machines valued at P200 million were also confiscated.
The BIR apprehended and seized several printing, gilding, cutting, stamping and module machines at a factory in Barangay Bacag, Villasis, Pangasinan.
“The unregistered equipment were being used to illegally produce and print fake cigarette packing and packaging, and bogus cigarette tax stamps,” Guballa said in a report.
Guballa said other confiscated materials such as inks, rollers, cardboards, straps and chemicals used in the illicit activity were accounted for and witnessed by representatives from the Philippine National Police and the local government of Villasis.
