Departing passenger with P5-M intercepted

The Office for Transportation Security (OTS) reported the interception of another undeclared Philippine currency on Monday afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

According to OTS Security Screening Officer (SSO) Marvin Cruz, he was performing the routine X-ray screening at the NAIA Terminal 1 final security checkpoint when he observed a suspicious image on the x-ray monitor appearing as liquids, a prohibited item.

As standard procedure, Cruz alerted the baggage inspector.

Following the alert, baggage inspector SSO Vanessa Mendoza initially searched for the bag’s owner and reports said that it was claimed by a male foreign passenger traveling to Narita, Japan, via Philippine Airlines flight number PR432.

Upon manually inspecting the bag, Mendoza found bundles of P1,000 bills as well as loose bills.

The discovery of undeclared currency was promptly reported by Mendoza to Duty Supervisor Melvin Mirabueno and Shift-in-Charge John Hemady, who then coordinated and endorsed it to the PNP-AVSEGROUP and Bureau of Customs (BoC).

Following an inventory, the BoC-NAIA duty examiner calculated that the cash was worth P5,321,789.65. The BoC instructed the passenger to obtain permission from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to carry the entire amount of cash on their flight.

Further inquiry by the BoC revealed that the passenger won the money in the casino.