16 smuggled luxury cars seized

Anti-smuggling agents of Bureau of Customs (BOC) have recovered all 16 brand new luxury vehicles that were smuggled out of a port in Subic in October last year following a weeklong follow-up operations in several auto trading shops in Angeles City in Pampanga, Subic in Zambales and Quezon City.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, head of Task Force Anti-Smuggling (TFAS), said they last recovered the remaining four of the 16 vehicles – two Mercedez Benzes and two Acura MDXes – from a warehouse in Subic Bay Freeport over the weekend.

Last March 6, TFAS agents seized five of the smuggled vehicles – one Infinity FX45, one BMW 75li, one Audi A8L, one Cadillac Escalade EXT pickup and one Escalade SUV – from Viper Auto Trading Center in Barangay Kut-kut in Angeles City.

The anti-smuggling operatives had recovered the first seven of the 16 vehicles in successive operations last March 2 and 3 from a car-trading center in Timog, Quezon City and a warehouse in Subic port, respectively.

Those recovered were a BMW 750li, an Audi A8L, a Corvete convertible, a BMW 325i, a Nissan Armada, and Mercedes Benz S350 and S550 sedans.

With the seizure of all 16 smuggled vehicles – totaling P80 million – Morales said they could now focus on the investigation to determine who should be held responsible for the illegal importation.

In a report, TFAS executive director Alexander Arcilla said they received an intelligence report last month that several imported brand new luxury vehicles had been stolen by two Korean nationals from their real owners.

The Korean nationals supposedly forged the receipt of the vehicles and spirited the vehicles out of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority seaport without paying the proper duties and taxes.

After investigation and intelligence information gathering, TFAS operatives were able to track down the five vehicles and immediately coordinated with Task Force Subic for the seizure operation.

TFAS officials said they are pursuing operations to hunt down nine more brand new vehicles that were included in the same shipment smuggled out of Subic.

Morales also ordered a separate internal investigation to determine possible involvement of some Customs officers in the illegal release of the shipment.

According to Morales, they are investigating several angles in the disappearance of the luxury vehicles, including the reported disagreement between the three Korean partners who imported the vehicles.

"We are checking to see if the motive behind the submission of an intelligence report to the Office of the Commissioner on the anomalous release of the 16 luxury cars. But we have already returned the seized vehicles to the Subic port for the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention," he said.