Manhunt on for car smuggling brains

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—Authorities have issued an alert for the arrest of the man behind a fleet of smuggled luxury vehicles that were seized from a warehouse that his half-brother owned in Talakag, Bukidnon.

Jose Justo Yap, director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for Northern Mindanao, said authorities have little information on Lynard Allan Bigcas, except that he hailed from Talakag before he migrated to the United States.

Bigcas, he said, has a half-brother in Talakag named Gilbert Omulon.

In fact, the 12 luxury vehicles and big bikes were seized on Wednesday from a warehouse in Barangay Santiago, which was registered under Omulon’s name.

A parallel raid on a garage in Barangay Kauswagan here yielded 13 more luxury vehicles and big bikes.

The seizure was led by NBI agents—who earlier coordinated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)—and found that some of the confiscated items had been reported in the US as stolen vehicles.

“The FBI is conducting investigation on the stolen vehicles in the state of Texas, and they were led to Bigcas’ website www.albigsmotorcycle.com. He also posted his illegal merchandise on Facebook,” Yap said.

He said they were not certain when Bigcas last came to the Philippines as Omulon—who has not been charged yet—refused to talk to authorities.

But he said Bigcas maintained a car buy and sell business here and in Talakag.

“He travels intensively so we still don’t know where he is,” Yap said, adding that coordination with other law enforcement agencies in other parts of the Philippines and United States had been established for Bigcas’ arrest.

The Inquirer tried but failed to get any statement from the customs office here regarding the seized vehicles.

But Anju Castigador, customs collector, was quoted in radio reports as saying customs officials did not know of any entry of luxury vehicles at the port of Cagayan in recent days.

Castigador also said the vehicles might have entered the country through another port.

But Davao City businessman Rodolfo Reta, who sued Castigador for alleged collusion with smugglers when Castigador was still assigned at the Port of Davao, said the customs official should stop playing around.

“Enough with fooling the nation,” the businessman said in a text message.

Benjie Lizada, of the People Power Movement and among those who called for an investigation of Castigador, said it appears that smuggling would continue even if the Bureau of Customs (BOC) regularly reshuffles its personnel.

Lizada pointed out that when Castigador was in Davao, there were also reports of rampant smuggling.

“The smuggling problem is systemic. Transferring erring officials will not solve the problem,” he said. <strong><em>Bobby Lagsa with a report from Jeffrey Tupas, Inquirer Mindanao</strong></em>