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At around 4pm on Tue, Sep 1, an American tourist named Donald Edward Frantz Jr. was stopped from boarding a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight bound for Cagayan de Oro City at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as he allegedly tried to smuggle a disassembled gun into the plane.
“Aviation Security Group (Avsegroup) director, Chief Supt. Pablo Francisco Balagtas, said that Frantz was intercepted upon the initial screening of his luggage at the NAIA Terminal 3m by security screening officers Gember Abilong and baggage inspector Gil Girado of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS),” reports Jeannette I. Andrade in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Abilong and Girado detected the firearm parts in Frantz’s luggage as it went through the x-ray scanner. They immediately asked Frantz to open his luggage for inspection. They confirmed that what they say on the X-ray were the dismantled parts of a caliber .22 pistol.
The OTS personnel then alerted the Avsegroup about their discovery, which led to the foreigner’s arrest.
The report noted: “Frantz was taken into custody and charged with the illegal possession of a firearm in the Pasay City prosecutor’s office after he failed to present any document authorizing him to carry or possess gun.”
Photo: WikiCommons
