Joselito Malig

Filipino airplane passenger robbed midflight by co-passenger

Article (news)

Jekki Pascual

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Business senior advisor and columnist Enrique Soriano recounted what he described a &quot;terrible ordeal&quot; on a flight from Manama, Bahrain to Istanbul, Turkiye.Soriano said he flew business class, seated at 2D and slept, but what was supposed to be a short and uneventful flight was disrupted when a flight attendant approached him.&quot;I decided to go to the toilet, and when I got out of the toilet, a bit bizarre because the flight attendant whispered to me. She said, &#x27;I hope you will not mind, but can you check your luggage in your overhead bin?&#x27;&quot;Soriano was surprised, so he checked his two bags at the overhead bin. One was a backup with a pouch inside where he kept his foreign currencies. The pouch was unzipped, all money gone.&quot;I said &#x27;there&#x27;s nothing here. What happened?&#x27; And she said there was a person who opened your overhead bin and you were asleep. And it was dark and we felt that you needed to know.&quot;&quot;I said, who is this person. The flight attendants, now two of them, said that person seated behind you 3D,&quot; said Soriano.Nearly $2,000 was missing, together with other foreign currencies. Soriano didn&#x27;t confront the alleged thief first. But the incident was escalated to the aircraft captain, who informed airport police.Upon landing, the passenger in seat 3D was investigated. He denied the accusation.But in the middle of the questioning, flight attendants found cash in the overhead bin above 3D, as well as in an overhead bin in the economy class.&quot;In the economy section, some of the currencies that I also own was thrown there in the other overhead bins in the economy section—Singapore, Thai Baht, Vietnamese Dong, Rupiah. Then Azerbaijan, Georgia bills. I said those are not mine. I was not in those countries. That made me suspect that he was not operating alone,&quot; said Soriano.He added that he was informed by the Istanbul Airport police that a similar case happened weeks earlier, leading them to believe there may be a group behind such acts targeting airline passengers who are asleep midflight when most lights are turned off in the cabin.He also hopes airlines would be more proactive in helping affected passengers, saying he received little help from the airline&quot;There is a huge responsibility on the airline. They must initiate many things. Putting up CCTVs, having the flight attendants walk to check, especially during red eye flights, and they must be completely responsible for actions that may happen in the flights,&quot; he said.In the Philippines, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Aviation Security Group classified this as isolated in-flight theft cases. Police Col. Cesar Lumiwes, chief of the Aviation Security Unit NCR, said they have recorded one inflight theft case in the last few years.It happened in March when a foreign passenger was robbed on a flight to Manila from Malaysia. The alleged thief was a foreigner who also sat near the passenger. Some P12,000 was stolen, but only P10,000 was recovered.Lumiwes said even if this is an isolated case, they continue to coordinate with airlines on security concerns. He also has this advice for air passengers.&quot;Kung yung bag handcarry kung pwede lagyan, lagyan natin ng lock. And of course be very observant tayo, security awareness, consciousness dapat di natin tatanggalin yun,&quot; Lumiwes said.<div> </div><div>RELATED VIDEO:</div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hgmFv7fuzN4?si=HX0MURmE_j1fgx2W" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </div>

Business senior advisor and columnist Enrique Soriano recalled what he described a "terrible ordeal" on a flight from Manama, Bahrain to Istanbul, Turkiye.

Business senior advisor and columnist Enrique Soriano recalled what he described a "terrible ordeal" on a flight from Manama, Bahrain to Istanbul, Turkiye.