DOTr seeks NBI probe into smuggled Bugatti Chirons

FILE: The owner of the red Bugatti Chiron sports car that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been searching surrendered the luxury vehicle to the agency’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) on February 9, 2024. (Photo: Bureau of Customs PH/Facebook)

MANILA – The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the smuggling and registration of two Bugatti Chiron sports cars that were surrendered to authorities in February.

In a letter released by the DOTr on Friday, DOT Secretary Jaime Bautista asked NBI Director Medardo de Lemos to conduct a possible criminal and administrative probe into smuggling of the luxury vehicles and the liability of those involved.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) – National Capital Region (NCR) has completed its own probe and found that “documentary and procedural irregularities appear to surround the eventual registration of these luxury vehicles.”

Bautista tasked DOTr Assistant Secretary for Road Transport and Non-Infrastructure and Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation Jose Lim IV to check on LTO-NCR’s registration process for luxury vehicles.

In February, a red and a blue Bugatti Chirons – each worth PHP165 million without tax – were surrendered to the NBI and the BOC after the registered owners were found and warned of their alleged smuggling.

Earlier, sightings of the two vehicles in the cities of Pasay, Pasig, Muntinlupa, and Cavite province led the NBI and BOC to search for the vehicles.