‘Yamashita gold bar’ seized from tourist at NAIA

Authorities confiscate ‘Yamashita gold bar’ from tourist at NAIA

SOURCE: Miko L. Morelos

MANILA, Philippines—Airport authorities on Sunday stopped two Chinese nationals bound for Hong Kong and confiscated from them what appeared to be a gold bar, which bore a mark indicating it was part of the fabled Yamashita treasure.

Police asked Zhaohai Hong, a Chinese national, not to board a Philippine Airlines flight scheduled to leave past 8 a.m. Sunday and invited the man for questioning after scanners at a security checkpoint found the bar among his belongings.

Operators of X-ray machines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 took note of a metal-like object inside Zhaohai’s trolley bag as he submitted himself for inspection around 5:50 a.m.

Inspectors searched his bag with the passenger’s permission and found the metallic bar, which authorities later learned was made of bronze.

The metal weighed about five kilos and was marked “Yamashita Gold 999.”

Authorities kept the bar as Zhaohai and his wife were allowed to board the soonest flight to Hong Kong.

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