MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles ) – Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists assigned to the Los Angeles International Airport recently seized 450 prohibited pork meat tamales discovered inside the luggage of a passenger arriving from Mexico.

Foreign meat products which can carry serious animal diseases are subject to Customs inspection, can be seized and destroyed, and passengers carrying them could be fined for misdeclaration. The tamales were destroyed and the traveler was fined $1,000.

Across the Pacific Ocean, the Los Angeles incident gave  schemers at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) a new idea for extorting money from unsuspecting passengers.

The new scheme involves the ‘planting’ of pork lumpia (Filipino egg roll) in the luggage of passengers who are then  asked to pay money to avoid being detained for intense questioning. It is a takeoff from the much-publicized laglag bala (bullet planting) which has caused a big stir at NAIA.

The newer, tamer extortion scheme has been given a name : laglag lumpia.