The Insidious

Malacañang spokesmen don’t see any conspiracy in the "tanim-bala" extortion racket at NAIA.

Neither does Angel Honrado, head of the Manila International Airport Authority that's in charge of NAIA.

The DOTC and its attached agency Office for Transportation Security also vehemently deny the widespread public suspicion of such an insidious plot.

So does the PNP Aviation Security Command in charge of security at NAIA.

But an ongoing investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation has initially revealed that indeed there is a plot to shake down victims, not just by planting bullets in the bags of unwary airline passengers, but also by harassing and intimidating them with questions about travel documents, to force them to cough up money just so they can leave.

What's the obvious conclusion here?

The NBI is doing its work of thorough investigation.

The other agencies, on the other hand, are not doing their work of investigating at all.

Not all cases of bullets found in passengers' bags are planted. Apparently there are still people who insist on bringing bullets as anting-anting when they travel abroad. These are the simply stupid ones who probably deserve to spend time in detention, if only to knock some sense into their heads.