2nd Bugatti surrendered to BOC

• The Bureau of Customs retrieved a second Bugatti Chiron suspected of being smuggled into the country

• The P165-million sports car was surrendered to the BOC Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service by a legal representative of the car’s registered owner

• Despite the voluntary surrender, the owner will still face charges for violating Section 1401 in relation to Section 1113 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) retrieved a second Bugatti Chiron suspected of being smuggled into the country.

Registered to Thu Trang Nguyen with license plate NIM 5448, the blue sports car valued at P165 million was surrendered through legal representative Michael Mosquite to the BOC Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) on February 21 in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

BOC-CIIS director Verne Enciso coordinated with Ayala Alabang Village officials before the vehicle’s retrieval.

Despite the voluntary surrender, the owner will still face charges for violating Section 1401 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

This development follows the surrender of a red Bugatti Chiron on February 9, registered to Menguin Zhu, as authorities intensified their search for the second Bugatti based on public appeals.

The two luxury cars, initially seen in Pasay, Pasig, Muntinlupa, and Cavite, were suspected of lacking proper import documentation. Videos of the Bugattis racing on social media prompted a concerted effort by the BOC-CIIS to locate the vehicles and address the situation.

Unregistered vehicles

In a related development, the German-led joint venture, Dermalog Identification Systems-Holy Family Printing Corp.-Microgenesis Business Systems (Dermalog JV), affirmed that the two sports cars were not registered through the Land Transportation Management System (LTMS) of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The LTO has allowed parallel operations with the old IT system under Stradcom Corp., enabling registrations outside the LTMS.

In a statement, the joint venture said “the Bugatti Chirons flagged down by Senator Raffy Tulfo were not registered with the LTMS.”

It added, “The Bugatti Chirons would not have been able to be registered in LTMS as the robust security features of LTMS would have prevented such registration to occur.”

Tulfo earlier said fake documents from the BOC were used to register the smuggled luxury cars with the LTO.