NBI reaches out to ‘tanim-bala’ victims

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MANILA – With the aim of putting an end to the ‘tanim-bala’ (bullet-planting) extortion scheme, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) urged victims, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and travellers, to file complaints regarding the incident.

NBI Task Force Talaba head Manuel Antonio Eduarte, who has been investigating over the scheme, encouraged victims to give their sworn statements as the probers gathered more evidences.

Eduarte disclosed that the task force had already started preliminary investigations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“When we went there last Wednesday, they (NAIA officials) facilitated our request for other documents, they received the request. They [committed] to furnish us with whatever document we would ask for… There is close coordination with agencies in the airport,” he said in a Philippine Star report.

Eduarte, however, clarified that the existence of a syndicate was not yet confirmed.

“As far as I and my office are concerned, we have not made any pronouncement. We are still just in the initial stages of our investigation, how can we come out with such a pronouncement?” he said.

Another NAIA scam

Meanwhile, retired Cavite Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge Manuel Mayo revealed another possible modus operandi amid the ‘tanim-bala’ scheme.

According to Mayo, his expensive Omega wristwatch mysteriously disappeared after his backpack went through the NAIA x-ray scanner. But after protesting over the loss, his watch immediately resurfaced.

Mayo shunned it as a case of ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ and was a credence to the bullets bafflingly appearing in the baggage of passengers.

“It is the case of the bullet appearing in your hand-carried bag and the wristwatch disappearing from my backpack after passing through the x-ray scanner. I find the elderly victims of the tanim-bala scam at NAIA to be credible witnesses and their accounts credible as well,” he said in a Facebook post.

Mayo disclosed how he placed his wristwatch in a zipped-pocket of his backpack when his belongings were required to undergo an x-ray scanner. After the procedure, he could no longer find his watch. He then reported the incident to the person manning the scanner who asked him to look for the missing item again. But with the watch still not found, the retired judge started to get frustrated and was advised to file a complaint at the central office. The airport employee also offered to check his bag – and the missing watch suddenly materialized.

“I am willing to attest to the foregoing. If my watch could vanish in the manner it did then, it is totally possible and credible that a bullet could suddenly appear in your bag after it goes through that x-ray scanner,” he said.