Manila, April 23 -- The recovery of massive volumes of illicit cigarettes over the past three weeks has disrupted the supply chain of smuggled tobacco products in the region, the Police Regional Office -Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) bared Thursday.

A police operation on Wednesday led to the discovery of PHP1.65 million worth of smuggled cigarettes abandoned inside a van in Barangay Pahanocoy.

On Tuesday, regional intelligence operatives and Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) personnel uncovered a warehouse in Barangay Alijis containing thousands of boxes of packaging materials and illicit production paraphernalia.

In neighboring Bago City, police arrested nine Chinese nationals and four Filipinos on the same day during a raid on a trad...