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OPERATIVES of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) on Friday
seized five luxury vehicles in an auto-trading shop in Quezon City
for nonpayment of duties and taxes.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon
Morales said the joint operatives of the customs Task Force
Antismuggling (TFAS) and Task Force Subic found the vehicles after
weeks of surveillance on display at the showroom of Auto Trend, a
car-exchange firm, in Timog, Quezon City.
The Task Force Subic head, Gen.
Jose Calimlim, reported Friday that a total of 16 luxury cars, worth
an estimated P80 million, were smuggled out of Subic Freeport last
month, the first batch included a BMW 750Li, an Audi Quattro 4.2 L,
a Nissan Armada, one Mercedez Benz and a Chevrolet Corvette sports
car, which were all brand new. The cars were found at the Auto Trend
showroom.
According to Morales, the
recovery operation came following an intelligence report he received
last month about several imported brand-new luxury vehicles having
been allegedly stolen from the legitimate importers by two Korean
nationals.
The Korean nationals, he added,
allegedly forged the receipt of the vehicles and spirited the
vehicles out of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority without paying
the corresponding proper duties and taxes.
Calimlim identified the suspected
smugglers as a certain Kim Tae Jong and Kim Yung So, who are in the
country, and a certain Kim Seng Jim, who is supposedly the financier
in Seoul, Korea.
He also identified the Filipino
alleged smugglers as a certain Alfonso Dominguez based in Manila and
a certain Virgilio Decena, who is based in Subic.
After investigation and
intelligence information gathering, TFAS SOG operatives were able to
track down the whereabouts of the five cars and immediately
coordinated with Task Force Subic for the seizure of the cars.
Owners of Auto Trend were
cooperative throughout the operations and surrendered the vehicles.
They said that the cars were only consigned to their shop for
display and sale.
The five vehicles are in the
custody of the BoC-Port of Subic. Investigation is ongoing to verify
the whereabouts of 11 other brand-new vehicles that were also
included in the same shipment smuggled out of the Subic port.
Morales also ordered a separate
internal investigation of customs officers on duty during the
alleged smuggling to find out who are responsible for the release of
the shipment.
Calimlim, together with SAF, led
by Maj. Michael Bawayan, Subic Custom Collector Marietta Zamoranos
and BoC Assistant Commissioner Alex Arcila, is still looking for the
remaining 11 vehicles. “We are confident that we will find and
recover the 11 remaining luxury cars, which are estimated to cost
P54 million in street value,” Calimlim said.
--William B. Depasupil and Anthony Bayarong
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