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A raid by Customs intelligence officers on a car dealership in Pasig City on July 4 yielded 87 “exotic” vehicles and “hypercars” with questionable documents
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Customs commissioner Bienvenido Rubio issued a Letter of Authority to conduct the raid on the unnamed car hub in Barangay Ugong that was allegedly openly trading the luxury cars
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The cars were among 197 vehicles found in the commercial compound
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The Bureau of Customs ordered the car dealer to submit evidence of payment of duties and taxes under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act
The Bureau of Customs raided a car dealership in Pasig City and found 87 imported “exotic” vehicles and “hypercars” with questionable documents.
The raiding team found a total of 197 imported and locally sourced vehicles during the July 4 raid, the Bureau of Customs said in a statement.
The vehicles included several units of luxury cars such as Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Porsche Macan, Jaguar, GMC Savannah, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, and Land Rover.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Intelligence Group (CIIS-IG) team raided the car hub in Barangay Ugong on July 4, 2023, after obtaining a Letter of Authority (LOA) signed by Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio authorizing the team to demand evidence of payment of correct duties and taxes.
The car dealership attracted the BOC’s attention after openly offering the luxury cars for sale. CIIS-IG planned the raid after verifying intelligence reports gathered through surveillance that the car dealer stored and openly offered the vehicles without proper documentation.
“There was reportedly no tight lockdown in the showroom. This was because of the unusual location of the car hub, wherein the compound is being shared by several other business establishments. If a tight lockdown was put in place, our team would have also compromised the operations of the other businesses there,” CIIS Director Verne Enciso said.
Under Section 224 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, the car dealer has 15 days from the date of the raid to submit evidence of payment of correct duties and taxes due on the subject imported goods.
If the dealer fails to do so, BOC will seize the vehicles in question and carry out forfeiture proceedings against them pursuant to Customs Administrative Order No. 10-2020.
BOC agents and officers have been ordered to guard the car hub to secure the vehicles while waiting for the dealer to submit the required evidence of duty and tax payments.
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