AVIATION police yesterday arrested Singapore-bound Isidro
Telesporo, 52, manager of LKY Realty and a resident of Executive Village in
Antipolo City, after he failed to sneak out with P4 million in cash.
The Bangko Sentral only allows outbound passengers to carry
cash not exceeding P10,000. Any amount over that limit has to be declared with
the central bank.
Col. Efren Labiang, chief of the Police Center for Aviation
Security, reported to Col. Atilano Morada, director of PNP-ASG, that Telesporo
was about to board a Philippine Airlines flight PR503 for Singapore when he was
held back at the initial security check at Centennial Terminal 2.
X-ray operator Bessy Ponce notified her superiors after
noting the huge bulk of unidentified blurry object in the Samsonite luggage of
Telesporo. Airport authorities, including some Customs officers on duty, opened
the bag in front of Telesporo and found the cash, in denominations of P1,000 and
P500, neatly stacked inside two smaller bags.
Telesporo was taken to the PCAS headquarters for questioning
but refused to give any statement upon the advice of his lawyer. Authorities,
however, suspect that Telesporo is a courier and that the money would be used to
buy foreign currencies from homeward-bound Filipino workers in Singapore.
The money he was carrying was turned over to the Bureau of Customs for
inventory and safekeeping. – Jay Chua and Raymond Africa
