2 travelers yield 400 grams of shabu at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Police officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Centennial terminal confiscated more than 400 grams of shabu from two passengers, officials said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton and Superintendent Raniel Valones arrested landscape technician Rolando Pono, who was bound for Guam; and construction worker Oscar Calingacion as he was about to board a Philippine Airlines flight for Bacolod.

Cuaton said Pono was arrested during the final security check at around 9:45 p.m. Saturday when frisker Ariel Metillo found Pono wearing an improvised belt containing 200 grams of shabu or methamphetamine hydrocloride.

Pono, who holds a United States passport, said he arrived in Manila Dec. 5 and was billeted at a condominium in Makati City. He said he was asked to bring the shabu to Guam, for which he was to be paid $10,000.

Calingacion, 44, of Dasmariñas, Cavite was arrested during the final security check yesterday morning by frisker Frederick Puno, who found two plastic bags of shabu in his underwear.

Calingacion said he was forced to transport shabu since he cannot support his two-year-old son and his pregnant wife on P250 a day, if he is lucky to be hired to work on construction jobs.

He said a certain Neneng from Cavite paid him P5,000 and a round-trip ticket to transport the shabu to Bacolod, where someone would pick it up.

Cuaton said he instructed his men to be more vigilant in screening passengers, particularly during the holidays, when there would be a heavy influx of travelers.

He said Pono and Calingacion will be charged for transporting shabu, an offense punishable by life imprisonment.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Alfonso Cusi lauded the police officials, saying “many people will be harmed” if the two passengers managed to get the shabu past airport security.