K9 units at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), long used for anti-terrorism and anti-illegal drug operations, have a new mission: to sniff out (literally) money-laundering schemes.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has recently entered into an agreement with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to deploy dogs at NAIA that could detect large amounts of money that passengers may try to secretly take out of the country.
Trained by PCG, the K9s will be deployed at the NAIA terminals' arrival and departure areas, respectively, to enhance BOC's anti-money laundering operations.
Customs District 3 Collector Yasmin Mapa said that, due to the increasing number of cases of passengers trying to take currency out of the country, K9 dogs specialized in smelling large amounts of cash have now been established.
Deputy Collector for Passenger Services Mark Almase said they have noticed an increase in travelers smuggling significant amounts of currency without declaring it, thus evading taxes.
BOC-NAIA reported that a female Chinese traveler was recently apprehended by security during the final inspection for not declaring over US$10,000 in her possession, which goes against Philippine Customs regulations.
The BoC stated that bringing out more than US$10,000, P10,000 in currencies or its equivalent is illegal unless it is declared.
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