5 luxury cars smuggled out of Subic recovered

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Five luxury vehicles smuggled out of the Freeport were recovered by Task Force Subic and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), in coordination with the Bureau of Customs, and the Port of Subic.

The operation was part of an effort to retrieve 16 luxury vehicles worth at least P80 million, which were reportedly taken out of the Freeport and whose Customs declarations were undervalued.

The five luxury vehicles were seized from Auto Trend, a known dealer of imported cars in Quezon City. Seized were a BMW 750LI, a Corvette sports car, an Audi Quatro, a Nissan Armada and a Mercedez Benz.

The BMW was the most expensive at P7.5 million, while the Audi was valued at P7 million.

According to Task Force Subic head and Senior Deputy Administrator for Operations Gen. Jose Calimlim, 16 brand new luxury vehicles were brought out of the Freeport without authority and were seen displayed in different shops in Angeles City, San Fernando, Pampanga and Timog, Quezon City.

"The vehicles will be returned to Subic and an investigation will be conducted as to how they were taken out of the area," he said.

Calimlim stressed that investigations will reveal if proper taxes were paid by the owners of the vehicles.

A group of Korean and Filipino businessmen are believed responsible for the smuggling of the vehicles.

Kim Tae Jong and Kim Yung So, based in the Philippines, and a Kim Seng Jun, who is in Korea had supposedly financed the operations.

Calimlim said the Customs duties due on the smuggled vehicles is around P20 million. – With Edu Punay, Ric Sapnu