In an effort to thwart the increasing number of cases of passengers trying to take foreign currency out of the country, the Bureau of Customs at the NAIA has now established K-9 dogs which are trained to smell cash money.
It was learned that Bureau of Customs District Collector Atty. Yasmin Mapa initiated and immediately took action by coordinated with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) requesting to put up an agreement and partnership with BOC-NAIA and PCG to strengthen efforts against the modus operandi of syndicated money launderers.
According to NAIA- Customs Passengers operations chief Dr. Mark Jhon Almase, they noticed that there are many people who are caught smuggling large amounts of currency recently by not declaring it properly.
He said either they think they are escaping paying taxes or possibly use the money for unscrupulous purposes.
Just recently, a female Chinese national passenger was caught by security at the final checkpoint, carrying US dollars and without declaring that she was carrying more than 10,000 which is illegal.
The said K9 dogs are trained by the Philippine Coast Guard and will be deployed at the NAIA arrival and departure areas, where all corners of the terminals will be checked to ensure that no smugglers of any kind of foreign currency can get through, said Mapa.
