MANILA – The Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG), working on a concerned citizen's tip, has confiscated seven allegedly unregistered luxury cars in Bulacan, a police official said on Thursday.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP-HPG spokesperson Lt. Nadame Malang said the luxury cars were found supposedly idling at a gas station along the Northern Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in Marilao town last Monday night when a concerned citizen reported them to the police.
Malang said it was unusual for seven luxury cars to be in one area at a gas station for almost two hours if they were just getting gas, which would have only taken around 30 minutes.
He said authorities have yet to determine why the seven drivers were at the NLEX gas station.
The police only identified the apprehended car owners as “businessmen.” Their luxury cars were turned over to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) central office in Quezon City.
“Ang kanilang profile, mga businessmen at mga private individuals kaya tinitingnan ng HPG kung ito ba ay dumaan sa tamang proseso (Their profile is that of businessmen and private individuals, so the HPG is looking into whether it went through the proper process.),” Malang said.
“Na-validate ng ating mga operatiba na totoo yung sumbong ng ating kababayan na itong pitong luxury cars ay may improvised plate na ginagamit. Siya din agad yung initial violation… Napag-alaman din natin na ito ay mga unregistered na sasakyan (Our operatives validated that our concerned citizens’ tip was true that these seven luxury cars were using improvised plates. That was the initial violation… We then found out that these were unregistered vehicles)."
Malang said the drivers would be facing charges for violation of Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, for driving an allegedly unregistered vehicle.
He said the HPG is tracing whether the luxury cars seized in Monday night’s operation were connected to the luxury cars of private contractor couple Pacifico "Curlee" and Cezarah Rowena "Sarah" Discaya although he could not immediately establish how they would be connected.
“Alam din naman natin na almost sa dami ng mga luxury cars na gamit ng Discayas ay halos hindi na makita doon sa area or bahay nila (We know that the Discayas have so many cars that they are no longer located in their residence)," he said.
"Twelve yung ating na-validate at yung iba ay hinahanap pa together with our Customs and other agencies ng ating government at yun din nga yung naging susi na baka yun nga din yung mga nakuha nating mga luxury cars (We have validated 12 and the our Bureau of Customs and other agencies are still looking for the others. That is the reason we suspect that those were the same luxury cars we got)." (PNA)