Senior Supt. Ricardo Layug Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (Avsegroup) in National Capital Region, was relieved from his post on Saturday amid the controversial laglag-bala extortion scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

He was replaced by Senior Supt. Adolfo Samala.

Two other officials were also relieved, including Layug’s deputy.

In an interview with GMA News, Avsegroup director Chief Superintendent Francisco Balagtas, said they are looking into the alleged collusion between laglag-bala extortionists and members of Avsegroup-NCR in Metro Manila.

“Tina-touch ko rin ‘yun, kung may collusion sa pulis namin because as I’ve said, the one handling here is the National Capital Region aviation security unit namin. So ang aviation headquarters is supporting that, na kailangan makita namin kung saan ang problema ng unit namin dito sa National Capital Region,” Balagtas said in the interview.

However, in a report on Rappler, Balagtas clarified that the movements were “part of a rotation” on the PNP’s part.

Layug has been chief of the Aviation Security Unit of NCR since December 2014.

Meanwhile, 15 personnel from the Office for Transportation Security were also relieved from duty after being placed on restricted status pending further investigation.