Package suspected to contain bomb seized at Kalibo airport

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Airport security personnel confiscated a package suspected to contain an explosive device at the Kalibo International Airport (KIA) Tuesday evening, the airport manager revealed Wednesday.

But as of Wednesday, officials of the Philippine National Police in Aklan have not confirmed nor denied whether the package, placed inside an LBC Express pouch, indeed contained an explosive device or substance.

Percy Malonesio, KIA manager, said a parcel bound for Manila was intercepted around 7:30 p.m. after the airport’s x-ray machines detected suspicious contents.

“The X-ray monitor registered a black colored content inside the package, which is among the indications of an explosive substance or device,” Malonesio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Bomb and explosive personnel from the Aklan Provincial Police Office (APPO) confiscated the package for testing.

Senior Superintendent Cornelio Defensor, Aklan police director, could not be reached by landline or mobile phone as of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday. There was also no report of the seizure at the Kalibo police station.

Malonesio said the names of the sender and consignee indicated in the package were the same. The address of both the sender and consignee were also indicated as “Sultan Kudarat.”

He said he did not know the results of the police investigation because it was conducted by personnel of the APPO.

The interception of the package did not disrupt operations at the airport and flights were normal, according to Malonesio.

Also on Tuesday, unidentified persons lobbed an improvised explosive device, which failed to detonate in front of the regional office of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Iloilo City.

No one was hurt in the failed attack but investigators recovered a fragmentation grenade taped to a 60-millimeter mortar shell, according to Superintendent Giovanni Musico, deputy chief for administration of the Iloilo City Police Office.

Musico said around three persons threw the explosives around 5 a.m. near the administration office of the LTO in Barangay (village) Tabuc Suba in Jaro District.

The identities of the persons and the motive of the attack were still being determined by investigators.