DSI seizes 160 supercars in a week

[rooster59]

DSI seizes 160 supercars in a week

 

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) in cooperation with the Customs Department has impounded 160 luxury cars in less than a week after gaining evidence they imported to the country using falsified official documents.

 

Among the luxury cars seized for further investigation are 10 stolen luxury cars in the United Kingdom and imported to Thailand and displayed in showrooms in Bangkok.

 

The seizure of these suspected stolen luxury cars was cooperated by the UK authorities.

 

In term of import duties, such illegal imports have caused up to three billion baht loss in custom duties.

 

DSI and customs authorities seized 122 cars from nine showrooms and 38 from six showrooms in Bangkok and the provinces on May 18 and 24.

 

Most of the vehicles were supercars of well-known brands such as Lambourghini, Rolls Royce, Maclaren and Lotus.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/dsi-seizes-160-supercars-week/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-05-28

[YetAnother]

what happens to these cars ? if they are illegal, can they be auctioned ? pity the unaware buyers just before seized

[trogers]

31 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

what happens to these cars ? if they are illegal, can they be auctioned ? pity the unaware buyers just before seized

These are not cars bought by the ordinary people using loans of 7 years, but bought with cash.

 

People with so much cash should already be discerning enough to smell a bad fish when prices are too cheap. But greed got the upper hand.

[kannot]

40 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

what happens to these cars ? if they are illegal, can they be auctioned ? pity the unaware buyers just before seized

crush them, publicly

[Cadbury]

42 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

what happens to these cars ? if they are illegal, can they be auctioned ? pity the unaware buyers just before seized

I suspect they go to inactive garages to which only a very few privileged people have a key.

[clockman]

And why has not the customs department been investigated?

[YetAnother]

5 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

I suspect they go to inactive garages to which only a very few privileged people have a key.

must be quite the place

[YetAnother]

1 minute ago, clockman said:

And why has not the customs department been investigated?

excellent question; they seem to be doing the job as they see fit; not according to any job description; perhaps that adds up to incompetence and then there is , of course , our never absent friend, corruption

[YetAnother]

it seems what law enforcement here in this place is in constant 'wake-up mode'; they do things at large scale all of a sudden; seems they have to be prodded into action (public scrutiny, etc); do they really NOT Know what goes on all the time ?

[smedly]

33 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

it seems what law enforcement here in this place is in constant 'wake-up mode'; they do things at large scale all of a sudden; seems they have to be prodded into action (public scrutiny, etc); do they really NOT Know what goes on all the time ?

I think you will find that money moves around with various people getting a share based on rank, it all works fine and well until a link in the money chain is broken or someone outside the money chain decides it is time to investigate and enforce some laws, this type of thing is referred too as "corruption" and the current government seem to be having a gradual effect, whether it is long term or not remains to be seen, it could also be the transnational aspect of this highly organised trade of stolen cars, perhaps the UK is pressing the issue.  

[ezzra]

If I had this giant triple X size humongous finger, I would have pointed at the

custom department where all 'deals' are made there, without them their

collusions in those shady importations nothing would be possible... Nuff said...

[lujanit]

Several years ago I was tempted to import a secondhand BMW from Singapore.  I would have driven it up and crossed at a land border.  Someone urged me to research the implications further.  It turns out that Immigration/Customs would value the car, taking no notice of the invoice (I was going to purchase it at a very good price legally and an invoice for the price paid would be available).

 

I read several reports that Customs would value the vehicle far higher than the invoice price.  The reasoning behind this is, apparently, to value the vehicle so high that I would either surrender it at the border or drive south.  The import tax would be so high that no one would pay it.  Either you 'pay' a negotiated fee via a brown envelope or pay the full import duty.

 

If surrendered the vehicle is supposed to go for auction.  Yet from what I read the auction is bogus and some Customs official buys it at next to nothing.

 

So if this happens for a cheaper car the incentives for high end luxury vehicles would be much greater.  Paying 100 to 200% 'import duty' asked by shady dealers is a bargain.

 

Although I am inclined feel sympathy for the purchasers who paid the showroom price for these cheaper vehicles yet I am inclined that these people knew something was not entirely legal.

Edited May 28, 2017 by lujanit
My lousy spelling

[chainarong]

Former disgraced DSI Tarit must be pissing himself laughing.................................

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

DSI seizes 160 supercars in a week

160, my goodness..., what are the HiSo going to use now to kill people? 

[8OA8]

Several years ago I was tempted to import a secondhand BMW from Singapore.  I would have driven it up and crossed at a land border.  Someone urged me to research the implications further.  It turns out that Immigration/Customs would value the car, taking no notice of the invoice (I was going to purchase it at a very good price legally and an invoice for the price paid would be available).
 
I read several reports that Customs would value the vehicle far higher than the invoice price.  The reasoning behind this is, apparently, to value the vehicle so high that I would either surrender it at the border or drive south.  The import tax would be so high that no one would pay it.  Either you 'pay' a negotiated fee via a brown envelope or pay the full import duty.
 
If surrendered the vehicle is supposed to go for auction.  Yet from what I read the auction is bogus and some Customs official buys it at next to nothing.
 
So if this happens for a cheaper car the incentives for high end luxury vehicles would be much greater.  Paying 100 to 200% 'import duty' asked by shady dealers is a bargain.
 
Although I am inclined feel sympathy for the purchasers who paid the showroom price for these cheaper vehicles yet I am inclined that these people knew something was not entirely legal.

The auctions are genuine, however "allegedly" on many occasions the brain has been removed from the car prior to the seizure and the car won't ever run unless you know what has been removed, hence the person in possession of the necessary component's (brain/computer..) can purchase the car in the knowledge that they will have a clean (duty paid) car for a fraction of the real cost of same vehicle in Thailand "allegedly".

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

[rmacee]

LOS ..Land of Scams (at all levels ..)

[Lupatria]

I would not be surprised if training is underway for a super car cop highway patrol squad.

[wabothai]

"Thailand very bad country, very bad".

[Techno Viking]

4 hours ago, clockman said:

And why has not the customs department been investigated?

I reckon are lot are flown in and then trucked out of a rear gate at the airport and customs are none the wiser.

[Techno Viking]

Just now, Father Fintan Stack said:

You would be wrong. Thai Customs are 100% involved here otherwise no import paperwork would be available for the cars to be sold on, let alone sit in showrooms in central Bangkok.

 

 

 

 

Its called dodgy paperwork.

[Techno Viking]

6 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Not possible without Thai Customs.

 

Don't forget as well as this being a very well known earner for Thai Customs throughout the years.

 

 

If you say so.

[Khun Robert]

Soon in Thailand, New cars for DSI???

Did they look to much to their Dubai collegues?

[Mrjlh]

Custom officials have to be involved some how. If they come by boat Customs inspects them unless the boat manages to enter a port away from the main shipping lines and do not have Custom inspectors. It's possible they could come in by air one or two at a time but they still need to be inspected by Customs.  By land? Possible but again need to get pass not only Customs but also Immigration.  Now I have over the years personally seen car carriers on several of the highways headed toward Bangkok with very expensive cars. So the question again is how did they get in?  I think we will be hearing about a bigger news story in the future.

[Techno Viking]

3 minutes ago, Mrjlh said:

Custom officials have to be involved some how. If they come by boat Customs inspects them unless the boat manages to enter a port away from the main shipping lines and do not have Custom inspectors. It's possible they could come in by air one or two at a time but they still need to be inspected by Customs. 

 

So you dont think it is possible to have a car loaded on a plane with dodgy paperwork and then arrive at swampy only to be taken out a back gate by a "friendly" person with a key to the gate ?

[8OA8]

The old trick is to import the car and let it sit without papers at a port until an 'opportunity' presents itself for favourable 'negotiations' with the local Customs officials.
 
Then the car is taxed at a far lower rate and paperwork sorted. 90% of these remain illegal but as usual there is no scrutiny. 
 
There are over 3000 luxury and super cars sitting at Laem Chabang port now, I could see some of them from my office there. 
 

This is a link to an old story, but it gives a fair idea of what the processes are: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-news/354353/2000-hidden-luxury-cars

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[8OA8]

And from not so long ago. A Spanish connection http://www.efe.com/efe/english/world/five-luxury-cars-stolen-in-spain-found-thailand/50000262-2858432#

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[8OA8]

Or more recently http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/171695-2/

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[Mrjlh]

14 minutes ago, Techno Viking said:

 

So you dont think it is possible to have a car loaded on a plane with dodgy paperwork and then arrive at swampy only to be taken out a back gate by a "friendly" person with a key to the gate ?

I didn't say that. You did.  Customs has to be involved somewhere. They sign off on the paperwork, dodgy or not. He's the friendly with the key.

[Techno Viking]

Just now, Mrjlh said:

I didn't say that. You did.  Customs has to be involved somewhere. They sign off on the paperwork, dodgy or not. He's the friendly with the key.

Until the vehicle is presented to customs for for tax clearance I dont believe they have any involvement. Guy with gate key is an airport employee, not customs.

[Mrjlh]

17 minutes ago, 8OA8 said:

This is a link to an old story, but it gives a fair idea of what the processes are: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-news/354353/2000-hidden-luxury-cars

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
 

This really does help explain how they get in. It's not only one agency it's several that are involved. It's the system they use that opens up the corruption. As I said Customs has to be involved somewhere.

 

It's not necessarily the agency... it's people in the agency.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Mrjlh
carification: