ukrules

As someone helpfully pointed out - they did in fact pay, there are policies that pay regardless of licenses. I guess she had one. Good on her.

Yes

I'm pretty sure she wasn't wearing a full helmet here if the huge cut on the face probably wouldn't have happened. No motorcycle license likely no insurance, unless she has a policy like mine - which she obviously doesn't.

This whole thing stinks, like they're attempting to prevent viable politicians from returning.

You know quite a while back you had to fill out a customs declaration prior to landing and it demanded that expensive items like laptops were declared. I don't think you need to fill that same form out but they definitely were interested in 'high value' items carried by tourists which most likely would have in fact been relatively cheap laptops costing 50 to 100k Baht equivalent. I was surprised to learn that many countries want VAT / DUTY payments to drive across the border in foreign vehicles, temporary import paperwork and all sorts of shenanigans. Greedy furcks every one of them

If they didn't know not to do this anyway then there is no hope for them.

Well that sucks, I hope he has it insured. This is the first time I've heard of a piano bursting into flames

I think that would be a sensible solution. When booking a flight on any airline they could pop up a warning about what's illegal and essential to know for tourists and not allow you to proceed before clicking an agreement that you have read it. It might be a long list of do's and don'ts - if the online flight shopper likes to vape every day then they and their family or friends will probably just go somewhere else. Everyone needs to know before booking a flight.

They can check for convictions in Thailand from Thai courts but there's no way they can do that with ANY other country unless they have a data sharing agreement in place - there are no such agreements. If they wanted to see any criminal history then they would do the same as with the visas which require a 'police check' - they don't do this, not at the moment anyway. A country almost never hands over such private information to a foreign government, not in the open anyway - a notable exception to this rule is the US and Canada where they routinely deny entry to each others countries based on misdemeanour convictions even if they're decades old.

I can imagine that the police are missing out on a huge amount of extorted money now that cannabis has been made legal. When it was illegal I'd bet they made many millions of Baht every month by threatening people with long prison sentences if they don't pay massive bribes - legalisation has destroyed a lucrative income stream. They must be really feeling the pain here and have decided to extort a different group of people - those with e-cigs. If they legalise e-cigs I wonder who they will go after next?

Wha tif they're manufactured in Thailand and not illegally imported?

Last I heard the police were planning on going to Singapore to speak to him - probably because he has the good sense not to come to Thailand, ever again.

Yes, that would be my excuse too, do you think it will work? ????

Notice how the narrative around this incident is being altered? It's no longer being talked about as extortion of foreign tourists, it's now case of bribery which the feindish foreigner lured the police into no doubt ???? I am reasonably sure that they will attempt to arrest one of the foreigners who paid the money for bribing an official thereby deflecting the issue onto the guy from Singapore who made the payment. That guy should make sure he never steps foot in Thailand again, I also wouldn't be surprised if they attempt to extradite him.

Indeed, if you are caught vaping or with a vape device as a foreigner then you will be extorted for tens of thousands of Baht. Interesting.

I do my own reporting in Hua Hin on the TE visa. The 90 day services you speak about are mainly available in Bangkok. But let me remind you of something - you don't need to do a 90 day report yourself - you can send anyone along to do them for you. If i'm feeling incredibly lazy I just send a Thai to do my bidding. Only the yearly extensions need to be done in person.

You were the one who blamed the victim, I pointed out that there are many questions to ask here. No ID found, doesn't mean he didn't have any. I never leave without a credit card The bike belongs to and is registered to someone yet nobody looked it up on a police database. Why not?

You don't know that at all, all you know is that by the time he was recovered there was no ID and presumably no wallet that would often contain his ID left on him. So the question is : Did Anthony normally carry some ID, along with credit cards, etc, etc with him in a wallet as a matter of routine? Also who owned the motorcycle, if it was rented then who did they rent it to? There are questions to be answered here. RIP

Why are they doing this?

They face the usual problem faced by authorities around the world. People only become branded criminals once they've been convicted. It specifically states in the terms and conditions that anyone applying for the Thailand Elite visa is not eligible if they have been sentenced to 1 year or more in prison, unless it's for negligence in which case I guess they are eligible for the visa - which is a little odd. If the Chinese in question has been sentenced to more than 1 year and they find out about it they will revoke the membership and visa. Some of the biggest gangsters out there have a squeaky clean record.

The pandemic is not over yet so what's the problem? Flights are double or triple what they were from a lot of places, give it a year or two. Also Tourism was on the way down in the years prior to 2020 so why would anyone expect that trend to change during a pandemic?

It is illegal to bribe an official / pay a bribe isn't it?

Maybe they will ban them twice?

It sounds like they want to arrest her for bribing a police officer.....and the electric cigarette posession.

They introduced a diversionary tactic by suggesting that there was some kind of electronic cigarette present. As far as I'm concerned they were digging their own grave at that point. Two wrongs don't make a right, if she had an e-cig then so what - nobody in nearly all the world cares about this. Why even mention it? If the Thai police find an e-cig they demand money, everyone knows that - and that's extortion unless it's an official fine - which I'm going to take a guess that it wasn't.