The aviation police again reminded airline passengers not to have banned items in their luggage after a 31-year-old flyer at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) was nabbed last week just for having two bullets in his bag.
Chief Supt. Pablo Francisco Balagtas, the Aviation Security Group (Avsegroup) director, identified the passenger as Kim Tejana. He was arrested for allegedly concealing two automatic rifle bullets, each of a different caliber, inside a small toiletry bag.
Balagtas said Tejana was supposed to be a passenger of an Iloilo City-bound flight, leaving from the Lapu Lapu City airport, when he was intercepted by MCIA authorities past noonon June 8.
He pointed out that members of the Office for Transport Security, the airport police, and the Avsegroup Central Visayas detected the bullets allegedly in Tejana’s possession during the initial security screening at the MCIA domestic area.
The bullets, Balagtas said, had been found in a small bag mixed in with Tejana’s personal items.
The suspect, according to the Avsegroup director, could not present any document to justify his possession of the ammunition. He was arrested and charged in the Lapu Lapu City prosecutor’s office with violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Balagtas renewed his reminder to airline passengers to avoid bringing items prohibited in airports, particularly guns and bullets, to have a hassle-free trip.
Other items that must never be carried in an airline passenger’s checked or unchecked baggage for safety and security reasons are: briefcases with alarm devices or lithium batteries and pyrotechnics; explosives, munition, fireworks and flares; compressed flammable, non-flammable or poisonous gases; tasers and stun guns; flammable liquids and solids; oxidizing, toxic, infectious, and corrosive substances as well as radioactive materials; and other magnetized, offensive or irritating substances that might endanger the flight. SFM