COTABATO CITY — Plainclothes policemen arrested a smuggler keeping P600,000 worth of imported cigarettes in an entrapment operation in Barangay Minaog in Dipolog City on Tuesday afternoon.

Brig. Gen. Bowenn Joey M. Masauding, director of the Police Regional Office-9, told reporters on Wednesday that they have taken the suspect into custody.

Mr. Masauding said combined personnel of the Dipolog City Police Office and the Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Police Office immediately frisked and cuffed the suspect after selling them several reams of cigarettes in a tradeoff laid with the support of local executives.

Mr. Masauding said the P600,000 worth of imported cigarettes seized from the suspect shall be turned over to the Bureau of Customs for its disposition. — John Felix M. Unson