Owner surrenders Red Bugatti Chiron to Customs after public appeal

The Bureau of Customs confirmed on Thursday that the owner of the red Bugatti Chiron sports car, which has been searched and is under investigation by the Bureau, had already surrendered it to the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Manila International Container Port on 9 February 2024.

According to BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio, this development only took a week since the Bureau had requested additional information from the public about the two smuggled luxury sports cars being driven around the cities of Cavite, Pasay, Pasig, and Muntinlupa.

The BOC Chief lauded the immediate result of the hot pursuit as it led to the surrender of one of the searched hot cars without import documents.

“This shows what we can achieve by working with the public. This is a big win for the Bureau, as we are working toward curbing smuggling of all kinds and making sure our borders are secured from nefarious smuggling activities,” Rubio said.

According to BOC 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 being hidden.

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

He added that upon checking the registry records of the two 2023 model Bugatti sports cars, one blue (plate number NIM 5448) and one red (plate number NIM 5450), they are registered to Menguin Zhu and Thu Thrang Nguyen.

In order to determine whether the cars were imported as brand new or used, the BOC is still investigating the country of origin.

BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso said that the Bureau had already asked the Land Transportation Office to investigate how the cars were registered 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; 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.

Since November 2023, the cars have been under investigation by the Bureau of Customs due to "derogatory information." The estimated cost of each car is PHP 165 million, not including taxes and customs costs.

Early this week, the BOC demanded information regarding the cars and offered rewards to informants or whistleblowers.

This is in compliance with CAO 03-2022 and Section 1512 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, which offer a monetary reward equal to 20% of the actual revenue received.

The owner will still be prosecuted for violating Section 1400 in connection with Section 1113 of the CMTA, even though they willingly turned in the vehicle.