HONG KONG: Four Filipinas carrying a combined 2.5 kilograms of cocaine have been arrested in Hong Kong. In an interview with ABS-CBN news yesterday, Office of Transport Security head Roland Recamono admitted that it was the first time he had heard the news, despite the arrests happening in late September.
Recamono also expressed his surprise that the cocaine went unnoticed in two separate X-ray checks.
The X-ray scans are operated by airport screeners, who are also responsible for the identifying and seizing of bullets from passengers. The practice of “discovering” bullets in passengers’ luggage is called “tanim bala”, and is believed to be an extortion tactic.
Despite the airport scanners’ affinity for finding individual bullets, it appears that enormous quantities of pure Class A drugs are completely beyond their scope.
Recamono has vowed to investigate this “major breach of airport security”, while the Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs has deployed a legal team to handle the case here in Hong Kong.
