BOC Plans to Sell 20 Smuggled Cars Worth ₱100M

To raise money for the government, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) plans to sell around  20 smuggled cars within the year, worth an estimated ₱100 million.

Customs Deputy Commissioner Edward Dy Buco told the press last July 12 that the MICP or the Manila International Container Port has been told to speed up the valuation of the confiscated smuggled luxury cars in its vicinity.

Deputy Commissioner Dy Buco has said that most of the seized luxury vehicles are brand new, with others in bad conditions.

In the past, prices of smuggled goods auctioned by the BOC prevented the items from being sold as several have said that the BOC overpriced the vehicles.

Deputy Commissioner Dy Buco mentioned that the BOC reduces the floor values by around 10% after every auction when the units remain unsold.

He has also said that the bureau has placed measures to guarantee that the bidders were not the car smugglers themselves by conducting background checks. In the past auctions, the winners of the bids were also involved in the car trading business.

In June 2022, the BOC successfully raised ₱20.8 million from selling two smuggled vehicles, a 2008 Scuderia Ferrari 430 at ₱10.5 million and an abandoned Lamborghini Vin 2006 at ₱10.4 million.

In April 2022, the BOC raised ₱6.3 million from auctioning off three luxury cars, a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 at ₱730,000, a Mercedez0Benz G500 sport utility vehicle (SUV) at ₱4.8 million, and a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 at ₱775,000.

Before the pandemic, the BOC destroyed smuggled cars to show the public it was serious about its anti-smuggling drive.

Source: Inquirer