Owner surrenders “wanted” Bugatti Chiron sports cars

After two luxurious sports cars were subjected to metrowide hunting in the past few days by the Bureau of Customs, the owner of the red Bugatti Chiron sports car surrendered to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) on Friday.

This development came barely a week after the Bureau appealed to the public for more information about the two smuggled luxury cars seen traversing the roads of Pasay, Pasig, Muntinlupa, and Cavite.

According to Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Group Juvymax Uy, the red Bugatti was surrendered to the joint BOC team in a house in Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City as this was where the red sports car was hidden.

“Our intelligence is that the red Bugatti had been stored in a house in Alabang. Since we publicly shared the information about the two cars, it got harder for the owners to drive these anywhere,” he shared.

The registered owners of the two units of the 2023 model sports car—one colored blue (with plate number NIM 5448) and one red (with plate number NIM 5450)—are Menguin Zhu and Thu Thrang Nguyen.

The BOC is still establishing the cars’ country of origin and whether they are brand new or secondhand at the time of their importation.

BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso said that the Bureau had already asked the Land Transportation Office to investigate how the cars were given registration papers despite not having the proper importation documents.

“Of course, we want to get to the bottom of this. It’s not just about having the sports car in our possession now since it entered the country illegally, but it’s also about understanding how this happened and how such a car was registered despite having no import documents. We want to know who allowed this to happen,” he stressed.

“Our job is not yet done. The blue Bugatti is still out there. We will find it in due time,” Enciso added.

The BOC investigated the cars, which cost around P165 million each without customs duties and taxes, since November 2023 after receiving “derogatory information” about them.