MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) may have earned notoriety due to airport hassles like “laglag bala” (implanted bullets), thievery by airport personnel and obnoxious required documentation for departing Filipino passengers, but it has one thing it is very proud of: its x-ray machines are the only kind in the world!

No other international airport can boast of screening machines that can detect contrabands that don’t exist while missing out on actual banned items in passenger luggages.

Case in point: airport authorities detected some contraband hidden inside a toy plane brought in by a returning overseas worker. It was a gift for her child in the Ilocos. Thanks to the unique x-ray machine and sniffing dog.

The box was opened in the presence of the passenger, but no contraband was found. As if that wasn’t enough, a customs officer used a hammer to break open the toy plane. Still, there was no contraband found.

So the next time you actually hide a banned item in your luggage, do not worry — it won’t be detected by the NAIA x-rays machines. They can only detect what doesn’t exist.

Very unique, eh?