FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Odd customs at Customs

Odd customs at Customs

Re: “Excise official offers to make amends to tourists hit with liquor fine”, News, May 25.

I have never understood why Customs officers have to resort to stopping tourists after they have passed through the Customs zone. They have an area in a secure zone for carrying out baggage inspections and searches. Also, what is the legality of this?
Once you have entered the arrivals hall, surely you are on public ground and not in a bonded area. What if you refused a search?
Seconfusilier

So how does a couple who, by your own admission were smuggling, get “fleeced”? Serves them right.
Psimbo

Five years ago, I had nine family members come to Pattaya for my 60th birthday party. They had a couple of cartons of cigarettes over the allowance, went through the green “nothing to declare” exit and were pulled up outside on their way to their transfer bus to the hotel by Customs guys and taken to a room.
The scam seemed to be at [the duty-free store, where] the girl puts all the cartons of cigarettes in one bag, and Customs did not take into account that they had all shown a passport for their allowance. 
To add insult to injury, the [Customs officials] only gave them back two cartons after they paid a Bt42,000 fine. It was initially Bt67,000, but my girlfriend has a family member who is a high-ranking government official and got it reduced.
But it’s still a ridiculous and disgusting way to treat tourists, some of them on a first and last trip to Thailand. 
The result is that nine tourists and their families and friends will never come back to Thailand.
Jimbo53

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