BOC: Cases of outright smuggling on the rise

MANILA, Philippines — There has been an increase in the number of cases of outright smuggling, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said on Friday.

“Recently, we have seen a rise in outright smuggling. They no longer go through the ports,” BOC spokesman Vincent Philip Maronilla said but did not cite figures.

With the Philippines being an archipelago, the BOC has monitored cases of smuggling through “backdoor channels,” Maronilla said in an interview.

He explained that smugglers on smaller ships meet up with those on larger ships in the open seas.

“They have special cranes that transfer the smuggled items,” Maronilla said.

However, he said the BOC is “pretty confident” it has “deterred” smuggling activities through “several operations,” mostly involving luxury items such as cars.

“Part of the operation is… trying to encourage importers to pay taxes instead,” Maronilla said.

He issued the statement following the BOC’s recovery of one of two luxury Bugatti Chiron sports cars from a house in the exclusive Ayala Alabang village in Muntinlupa on Friday.

The cars, reportedly registered under Menguin Zhu and Thu Thrang Nguyen, are worth P165 million each and the taxes are nearly equivalent to their value, the BOC said.

The images of the two cars became viral on social media after these were spotted speeding along Metro Manila’s roads.

Zhu reportedly sent surrender feelers for his red Bugatti but was not present when BOC operatives recovered it.

The Land Transportation Office earlier reported that the vehicles were given registration papers despite not having proper importation documents.

The BOC urged Nguyen, owner of the missing blue Bugatti, to surrender “or you will face the consequences,” Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said.

Nguyen and Zhu face charges of violating the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.