PORT authorities arrested a man Saturday night when they found a bullet inside his bag at the Port Area in Manila.
Daryl Incong, 21, was headed to Dipolog with his family at the Manila North Harbor when personnel at the X-ray machine discovered a bullet inside his bag, his uncle, Roger Incong, told a radio interview.
“My nephew called me up, saying they found a .38-caliber bullet in his bag. He was surprised because he was not bringing any bullet with him,” the uncle said.
“We were told that we need to post bail of P120,000—P80,000 for the bullet and P40,000 to have my nephew released,” he added.
He said his nephew, a security guard, denied bringing the bullet with him, and said the bullets issued for his service firearm are old, while the one found in his bag was new.
Incong’s arrest comes in the wake of a widening scandal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where security personnel are suspected of planting bullets in luggage to extort money from travelers.
On Sunday, the GMA-7 news program 24 Oras aired a video showing two airport security personnel opening and emptying the bag of Lane Michael White, a 20-year-old American.
White was detained for six days after a .22-caliber bullet was found in the outside pocket of his luggage on Sept. 17, and is currently out on bail that was set at P40,000.
GMA-7 identified the airport personnel as Marvin Garcia and Maria Elma Cena.
In the video, Garcia and Cena can be seen emptying White’s luggage, which was then brought back to the X-ray scanner. Security then called the attention of the family, pointing to the X-ray photo which showed the bullet.
White, traveling to Coron, Palawan, was taken to the Office of the Transport Security, where he said someone asked for P30,000 to make the case go away, but he refused.
His lawyer, Ernesto Arellano, said White was a Theology graduate from Florida who was in the country looking for a new church site as part of their missionary outreach program.
He said his client had no experience in shooting and did not own a gun or bullets.