EDITORIAL - Reptiles on a plane

Maybe the reptiles were drugged. Each turtle is also small enough to fit in one’s palm and relatively easy to transport. Still, it’s alarming to note that a passenger managed to bring out of the country, in luggage he checked in at the NAIA, 85 Philippine pond and Southeast Asian box turtles, 19 Mindanao water monitor lizards, and a python, apparently for sale in the pet markets of Hong Kong.

Authorities in Hong Kong said the reptiles would be returned to the Philippines after they have recovered from dehydration and the rigors of the flight. The reptiles were found in plastic bags last June 14 in the luggage of a 22-year-old passenger, who is currently serving a six-week prison sentence in Hong Kong.

Don’t those reptiles, particularly the baby monitor lizards, move around and create noise? Their smuggling out of the Philippines should raise concern about the capability to screen luggage at the country’s airports, including the premier gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Where are the sniffing dogs, the mechanical detectors? If dozens of crawling reptiles can be flown out of the NAIA, it’s not surprising that Filipinos are smuggling shabu concealed in their luggage from the country’s airports to destinations including China, where drug traffickers face capital punishment.

Airport authorities should launch a thorough investigation to identify lapses in security that allowed the smuggling of the reptiles. The probe should also determine if the smuggling was made possible with the connivance of airport or Customs personnel. There are suspicions that drug smuggling is facilitated in the country’s airports because certain personnel look the other way, in exchange for the kind of money that members of the highly lucrative illegal drug industry can afford to pay for protection. If squirming reptiles can be smuggled out of the country, it must be just as easy to bring out drugs and dangerous items.