Following rampant drug trafficking and smuggling of goods at the airports, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) will implement a mandatory x-ray inspection of the hand-carried baggage of all incoming passengers.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña directed BoC personnel to make sure hand-carried bags of all passengers being fetched by government officials are subjected to mandatory x-ray inspection.
The new BoC directive came after a recent revelation of alleged “sundo system,” also called “escort system,” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other main gateways.
According to the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, the “modus has been going on for many years now” and it involved at least eight groups “composed of government workers and airport personnel.”
The “salubong or sundo system” is an illegal operation where contrabands are being brought into the country by syndicates who will be “escorted” by government officials for an easy pass at the airports.
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Meanwhile, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal yesterday advised passengers to ensure their baggage are free from prohibited items before checking them in.
Earlier this week, a female passenger was questioned at the NAIA Terminal 2, as authorities discovered a plastic bag full of caliber .38 empty bullet shells inside her baggage.
Based on MIAA’s records, an image of a large amount of ammunition was seen during the x-ray inspection of the female passenger’s baggage.
Bullets are one of the prohibited items in NAIA. The MIAA, however, allows the passengers to go on with their flights after surrendering the ammunition.
The passenger was from Honolulu and had a connecting flight to Laoag. Authorities did a manual search in her presence.
They found 416 pieces of empty bullet shells placed inside a transparent resealable plastic bag and was placed in a box.
The passenger claimed the box belonged to her brother who requested her to bring with her.
MIAA added the passenger also claimed she was assured the baggage only contained clothes.
“Tanim bala” (bullet planting) used to be a mode of extortion at NAIA, and this has been a major fear among travellers accessing the country’s major airport.
“For me, the end of ‘tanim bala’ is one of the major accomplishments here in NAIA during the first few months of Duterte administration,” he said.
In 2016 after Monreal assumed his post, MIAA has issued a policy allowing passengers to take their flights after surrendering the ammunition found in their luggage.
