Thursday, November 08, 2007 Raid yields 8 ‘hot’ cars from Koreans’ shop
A JOINT team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 and the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes (PCTC) raided a car shop in Mandaue City Monday, seizing four cars believed to have been smuggled to Cebu.
The contingent from the NBI, led by Supervising Agent Ermie Monsanto, conducted a follow-up operation yesterday afternoon and seized four more cars being driven out of the shop without plates.
Nobody claimed the vehicles: a Mitsubishi Evolution V and a Toyota Supra, which are right-hand-drive cars; and a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a Hyundai Coup, which are left-hand-drive vehicles.
These were seized during the Monday raid, plus the four Kia Sephia sedans taken during the follow-up operation.
A report prepared for NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos by Special Investigator Arnel Pura, however, named the car shop as Aska Auto Trading.
The same document identified a Korean, Seung Joon Yang.
Four Koreans, identified as Park Sung Chul, Jeong Ui Jun, Kim Jae Young and Jin Tang Lee, were also questioned but not detained. They were at the shop when the raid took place.
The joint raid stemmed from information gathered by the PCTC based in Cebu City.
According to the unit’s information, sporty left-hand-drive vehicles from Korea and right-hand-drive cars from Japan are being smuggled into Cebu City in violation of an existing ban and the Tariffs and Customs Code.
The team, led by Supt. Vicente Premne and Pura, then went to the area.
Some of the operatives posed as buyers and were quickly given a walk through of the cars that were openly displayed.
According to a spot report signed by Premne, it was at this point that the undercover agents introduced themselves, followed by the arrival of the support teams.
According to Pura’s report, the cars were registered at the Land Transportation Office Molave Extension Office in Zamboanga City.
No custom payments appeared to have been attached to the records to show that correct taxes had been paid to justify the legality of the importation.
Also, no Bureau of Import Service Clearance from the Department of Trade and Industry was attached to the registration.
Likewise, no Bureau of Customs Vehicle Importation Monitoring and Compliance Unit clearance was submitted.
“These gathered facts are all earmarks of irregularity and fraud by its owner, a certain Seung Joon Yang based on the LTO registrations presented,” Pura’s report read. (KNR)
