Japanese nabbed with shabu, sniffing device

CEBU, Philippines - A Japanese national who was on his way out of the country yesterday ended up in jail after he was found with shabu and a device used for sniffing it while at the airport.

Chief Inspector Gazbamiller Guzman, deputy chief officer of Aviation Security Unit-7, said Shinji Mori, 38, was falling in line at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City at around 6 a.m. yesterday when a security officer noticed what looked like a “tooter” peeking out of Mori’s side pocket.

When the security officer, Mary Grace Navarro, asked Mori if he had undergone the first security screening, the Japanese reportedly did not respond. Mori then reportedly went uneasy and appeared anxious when he was blocked from proceeding to the second security screening leading to the departure area for international travelers.

Navarro then instructed a member of her screening staff to check Mori’s bag and his wallet and there they found a small sachet of shabu.

Mori eventually admitted to using illegal substance and, in a television interview, told Navarro the tooter in his pocket is his “cigarette.”

Mori was about to catch a 9 a.m. flight to Osaka, Japan via Philippine Air Lines. He was in Cebu since October 29 for a vacation.

 He is now detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office and is facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

 Last May 29, Taiwanese national Huan-He Chao, 27,  was put on hold by AVSEU-7 and MICIA’s engineering department for attempting to smuggle firearms at the airport through a pink miniature seaplane placed in his luggage.

 The dismantled firearms of a .9 mm pistol, a black widow revolver, and an Ingram sub-machine gun were reportedly found in the toy model’s base stand while three magazines or storage bullets were found in the plane’s body.

 Chao reportedly created the miniature plane to prevent airport security screening officers from the discovering the gun parts. —/JMO (FREEMAN)