Bullet Planting Modus Operandi

What to do when victimized by ‘laglag bala’ modus

http://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/headlines/20150929/laglagbala.jpg

The recent horrifying modus tagged as "laglag bala" or bullet scam has terrorized the travelers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Alleged victims of the extortion scheme were found to have bullets inside their luggage, prompting airport officials to apprehend them or take them in for questioning.

While the issue is yet to be resolved and new reports pileup every week, PEBA Inc.,a non-profit organization of Filipinos living and working abroad has, shared on Facebook some tips about what you should do when you are victimized by the alleged scheme.

1. Do not allow the staff to open your baggage; ask for the airport police, call your relatives and ask for a lawyer before anything else.

2. Once witness has arrived, let the officers open your bag and let them retrieve the bullet so you can keep your fingerprint off the bullet and the fabric where the bullet has been placed.

3. Ask them to take your fingerprint in front of your lawyer and police officials.

4. If results show that you have no fingerprint on the bullet, file a case against them and ask for payment for causing disturbance. They should also book your flight.

Source

Vietnamese nabbed with bullet

And another one ......
A Vietnamese businesswoman has been arrested at NAIA T3 for carrying a caliber .357 bullet in her shoulder bag.
Seems she was accompanying her relative when scanners detected the bullet in her bag when passing security checks

She says a customer gave it to her as a “good luck charm.”

Doesn't anybody learn anything ?

I also saw on the TV an American arrived into the airport and was detained after a pistol and ammo was found in his padlocked toolbox.
He says it's a innocent mistake. He forgot it was there

It's hard to understand what's going on in the heads of some folks sometimes

Well it had to happen at some time..............

Live ammo found in luggage of Philippines clergy, extortion suspected
Philippines clergy find live ammo in luggage: Extortion racket blamed

The head of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines was the target of a suspected extortion attempt when a bulletwas planted in the luggage of one of his staff at an airport, reports Anglican Ink.

The Prime Bishop, Most Rev Renato Abibico, and other members of the Church's leadership team were travelling from Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to Tacloban, known as the town devastated by Typhoon Haiyan two years ago.

Abibico reported: "A bullet was placed inside our bag containing our meeting materials for our meeting."
He said the episode was an example of "tanim bala", where airport security staff deliberately plant live ammunition in passengers' luggage in order to extort money from them as a bribe to avoid arrest.

Abibico said that the 32-calibre bullet "must have been placed by the personnel attending to the X-ray machine upon entering the airport".

A spokesman for the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Herminio Coloma, last month said said that the tanim bala practice was an isolated problem, but this week said the upsurge in complaints would prompt a government investigation.

http://www.christiantoday.com/artic...lippines.clergy.extortion.suspected/73797.htm

This is kind of funny but also seriously concerning. I feel like I've had a lucky escape in the past.. Goodness.

Next time we go, we will just use hard aluminium or polycarbonate locking luggage for everything.

Missus' handbag? Laptop bag? Camera case? They've all been targeted by the Manila security staff ...

Could you take a gun with you as checked in baggage if you leave the bullets at home?

Moving slightly off topic, anybody here own a gun?
The daughter of one of my friends married an American and her husband hunts deer and has quite a few guns.

wouldnt it make life easier if all travellers leaving the philippines simply hand over any spare cash to the airport staff ?

well--it could be regarded as an exit tax--a couple of hundred pp should do it--from every traveller

I heard that the bullet-in-the-baggage scam was still going on halfway through December.

Strange.

Just completed an online checkin for my next flight from Kuala Lumpur, and I happened to notice that the Restricted articles section of the KLM website says that amulets made of live bullets must be carried in your check-in baggage, this applies only for flights to or from the Philippines.

I was at NAIA last week and one of the women involved in this scam is still working at the post-check-in security screening in Terminal 2 domestic.