'Yamashita' gold bar seized at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Customs and aviation police officers assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 confiscated yesterday a fake gold bar marked “Yamashita” from a Chinese couple bound for Hong Kong.

Zhaohai Hong and his wife, Yanyan Xu, arrived at the airport at around 5:30 a.m. for their 8 a.m. Philippine Airlines flight.

Examiners found the five-kilo bar, which was also marked “999.9,” in the couple’s luggage.

Customs police chief Mariano Biteng Jr. said when they questioned the couple, they learned the object was only a bronze bar they bought in Manila and were about to bring to Hong Kong as a “souvenir.”

The couple missed their 8 a.m. flight but they left on the next flight to Hong Kong at 10 a.m. without the bronze bar, Biteng said.