Japanese tourist loses money at NAIA

March 31, 2018

Two Office of Transportation Security (OTS) members at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 3 were charged with qualified theft before the Pasay City Prosecutors Office after a Japanese national complained he lost 1,700 Australian dollars on Wednesday.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Ed Monreal ordered revocation of the  MIAA access passes of Stephen Bartolo and Demmie James Timtim and the filing of charges against the two suspects, officials said Saturday.

The tourist arrived around 12:45 pm Wednesday on board Cebu Pacific flight 5J40 from Sydney, Australia with a connecting flight to Cebu at 9:35 pm on the same day.

After he finished smoking around 7 pm, the tourist entered Gate 2 going to the departure area and placed his wallet inside his hand carry bag.

He claimed his wallet had some 2,700 Australian dollars. At the check-in counter, he checked his wallet and discovered that $1,700 Australian dollars were missing and only $1,000 were left.

He reported the incident to a security guard who brought him to the Airport Police Department at NAIA Terminal 3.

Police reviewed the CCTV where they found one of the two OTS took the money from the wallet.

In the initial interrogation,  Bartolo admitted he took the money from the wallet while conducting luggage search.

Bartolo surrendered two pieces of fifty Australian dollars and said the rest was given to Timtim.  Airport police recovered only four pieces of 50 Australian dollar bills from the jacket pocket of Timtim and another $100 from Bartolo. DMS