Two Chinese passengers were arrested by the Bureau of Customs -Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) on September 25 after carrying smuggled scheming device at NAIA Terminal 1.
Gong Yongjie, 26, and Wang Ji, 22, both from Guangzhou, China were on board China Southern flight CZ 3091 when Customs agents stopped them after their baggage exhibited x-ray image irregularities.
“Their baggage was immediately examined by the customs examiner in the presence of other customs-NAIA agents and they found 187 pieces of brand new One Time Password Cards and 153 pieces of used ATM, debit cards and new sim cards,” Maj. Jaybee Raul Cometa, head of X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) said.
OTP cards are used as a cloning device to access data in the ATM cards and the generated passwords will be sent to the sim cards which will initiate the transfer of funds.
Customs chief Isidro Lapeña said the suspects were brought in for inquest after bringing in prohibited goods and failing to provide any permit from the owner of the ATM and debit cards.
“The apprehending examiner recommended the issuance of warrant of seizure and detention against the goods to the district collector of NAIA while charges were filed against Gong and Ji at Pasay City Fiscal’s Office,” he added.
The suspects violated Sections 1113 (f), 1401, and 118 (g) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and RA 8484 or the Access Device Act.
The suspects are now detained at ESS NAIA District Office.
Lapeña disclosed on Thursday some foreign and domestic airline passengers took advantage of the non-intrusive examination of hand-carried baggage and luggage.
To address the increasing incidents of smuggling and drug trafficking in airports, “we are upgrading our facilities by adding more x-rays here in NAIA and we will also be procuring additional x-rays for the other ports,” the commissioner said.
Meanwhile, according to Cometa, two units and one unit of brand new Rapiscan x-ray machines are now installed at NAIA Terminal 1 and 3 respectively. Sixteen more x-rays will be installed at the three terminals of NAIA.## | BOC-PR
