AIRPORT authorities last Sunday arrested a suspected “package padala scam” artist whose would-be victim reported the case to the police, leading to the suspect’s arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) restaurant.
The police apprehended the suspect, Miriam Kanoute, 34, single, aq Mali national, with address in Makati City.
The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa, a region geologically identified with the West African Craton. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1.24 million square kilometers.
Media Affairs Division Chief Connie Bungang said Shirley Campones sought the help of the airport police on April 12, suspecting the person asking her for $11,000 in exchange for a package sent to her from abroad was a scam.
The package was supposedly sent by a man who Campones met in the Internet. She identified him as Fred McNeil, who told her he was being held by customs in an airport in Turkey due to some jewelry found in his baggage.
Campones said somebody texted her and asked her to meet the still unidentified person on April 12, at a restaurant at the departure level of Naia Terminal 1, saying he already had the baggage from McNeil.
Campones was advised by McNeil to bring $11,000 in exchange for the package.
Thinking this was a scam, Campones told the airport police she could give only a partial amount to the $11,000 being asked.
Operatives of the airport police planned an entrapment operation and accompanied Campones at the meeting place. They discreetly monitored Campones from a distance until a foreign national, suspected to be the person who sent the text message asking for a meeting, approached Campones.