Five more passengers, one of them a Chinese national, were apprehended for bringing in live ammunition, empty bullets and other prohibited items at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The Chinese national was identified as Qin Wei who was caught with two empty shells of .22 caliber, one empty shell of .9 mm pistol and one of .45 caliber. He was about to board Air Asia Z218 flight to Shanghai around 7:30 pm on Tuesday at NAIA Terminal 3 when screening found the four empty shells in his possession.
Earlier on the same day, septuagenarian Leonila Marundan, of Taytay, Rizal, was also about to board Skyjet flight 711 bound for Busuanga, Coron when the authorities also in terminal 3 noticed one round of .380 cal. amulet inside her coach bag.
Sixty-year-old Romeo Hena, of 427 Western Divide UEP Zone 3, Catarman, Northern Samar, also brought one .22 caliber live ammunition but was intercepted at the terminal’s final security checkpoint.
Two departing passengers for Bacolod identified as Noren Ribalde and Rolando Garfel were both caught in possession of a key chain and an amulet early Wednesday morning at NAIA Terminals 1 and 3.
After documentation and confiscation of the prohibited items, all passengers were allowed to board their flights.
Last Sunday, three Japanese nationals, were also caught carrying empty bullets. Ryo Matsuraa, Akira Nishonono and Narise Noda — were placed under questioning at terminal 2 after airport security screening officers found three empty bullet shells inside their trolley bags.
Manila International Airport Authority chief information officer Connie Bungag said the three foreigners were transit passengers from Guam (to Manila) going to Osaka, Japan via Philippine Airlines flight PR 408.
Bungag said the foreigners, after explaining that they just kept the empty shells as souvenir items from a firing activity in Guam, were allowed to proceed with their scheduled flight. The items were confiscated for documentation.
Those apprehended mostly “used” the live ammunition and empty bullets as souvenirs, necklaces, talismans or amulets. But the authorities reminded the public that those are banned items.
“We can’t explain why. Despite all the (apprehension) incidents, warnings and news reports, more passengers are still bringing those item. We encourage everyone to be aware of this prohibition,” said Bungag.
MIAA general manager Eddie Villanueva Monreal earlier urged people not to bring live ammunition, amulet and other prohibited items when traveling to avoid flight delays.
He said the police and security personnel at the airport will not arrest and prosecute passengers caught with bullets and amulets.
Instead the passengers in possession of prohibited items will be placed under profiling to determine if they have links to any terrorist or criminal group, or have criminal intention to carry the items.
“We made a new policy as far as procedure is concern. We recover ammunition as potential evidence. We have to see it and get their contact for further investigation then we submit the ammunition to the crime lab as part of ballistic information in the data base of the PNP,” said Monreal.
But he warned that if the same passengers continue to keep bringing the prohibited items, he or she will have to face stricter action from authorities.
The directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to stop arresting passengers with bullets came following complaints over the alleged “tanim-bala” (bullet-planting) extortion scheme perpetrated by some erring airport personnel in the past.