US donates bomb detection equipment to Mactan Aviation Security Unit

A bomb detection equipment worth P4.5 million donated by the United States government showed ted its capability to determine and detonate an improvised explosive device (IED) in a demonstration held in a secluded area at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport this morning.

It was the first electronically operated bomb detection equipment of the Aviation Security Unit in Central Visayas (Avseu 7) that included a bomb suit that could withstand the strong impacts of IEDs, said Superintendent Richie Posadas, Avseu 7 chief.

Posadas said the American government, through its Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATAP), made the donation after it learned that the Avseu at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has no capability to detect or detonate an IED.

An Avseu 7 personnel, Senior Police Officer 2 Jury Callora, was sent to the US last February for a training on how to operate the bomb detection equipment.

Posadas said they were grateful to the US government for the donation, as MCIA finally now has an equipment that would provide added security to the airport, a major air hub for domestic and foreign travelers.

In the demonstration staged at around 9 a.m., a suspected IED was discovered abandoned in the MCIA parking lot. The area’s 15-meter radius was then cordoned off with a police yellow line before bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to confirm the presence of the bomb.

Callora, as the bomb technician, was dressed in a bomb suit and used the portable x-ray machine to take an image of the IED, which, in turn, confirmed that an IED was inside the bag. The IED was then detonated using a water raptor.

The shock proof, fire proof and fragmentation proof 40-kilo with cooling device bomb suit can also be used by other police and military units in Cebu but bomb technicians should first be trained by Callora, said Posadas.