THE CUSTOMS Department will try to get back two luxury cars that were shipped out of the Bangkok Free Trade Zone earlier this month, after available evidence suggests they may have been vehicles stolen from Britain.

Department of Special Investigation (DSI) deputy chief Korrawat Panprapakorn said |yesterday that the Customs Department would be in charge of recalling the two “supercars”.

“We have been working together [in regards to the reports from Britain’s National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service that more than 40 luxury cars were stolen from its territory and sent to Thailand],” Korrawat said about his agency’s close collaboration with the Customs Department.

Chaiyut Kumkun, deputy director-general of the Customs Department, said records showed these two vehicles were re-exported from Thailand to Hong Kong.

“The ship has not yet reached its destination. We have already ordered the exporter to send these two vehicles back,” he said.

Chaiyut expected these two |luxury cars, one of them a Mercedes-Benz, to arrive in July.

“In the meantime, we will thoroughly investigate the link between the importer and exporter of the cars,” he said.

He and Korrawat led a team in searching a car warehouse in the Bangkok Free Trade Zone yesterday in response to reports that some of the cars stolen from Britain had been kept there.

The search uncovered three stolen cars – a white Mercedes-Benz, a black Mercedes-Benz and a Nissan “supercar”.

Korrawat said so far, Thai authorities have located 12 luxury cars stolen from Britain.

108 Customs officials probed 

This is on top of DSI efforts to crack down on vehicles whose |owners and/or suppliers allegedly sought to evade paying a proper amount of tax.

It is estimated that the country loses billions of baht each year because car dealers reported a false price for vehicles imported here to avoid a high tax rate.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission has investigated 108 customs officials over allegations about the allegedly suspicious low vehicle prices that these officials agreed to accept.

“It’s possible that some Customs officials may not know the actual prices of all these vehicles.

“Those who definitely know the prices are the buyers and the sellers,” Chaiyut said.

“But now that the DSI has received price information from overseas, so we will be able to recheck.”

At present, the DSI has impounded a huge number of luxury vehicles for examination to try to deter|mine whether they are involved |in moves to avoid paying the |proper amount of tax.

Among the impounded vehicles is a Lamborghini registered under the name of famous entertainment |figure Pakorn “Dome” Lam.

The star has insisted that he bought this supercar legally from a dealer.

Korrawat said Pakorn’s Lamborghini was not a car stolen from Britain but he had to supply further evidence to prove that his car was perfectly legal.