Hi all. I got a call from my brother in the UK to say that one of his friend's sons got caught with a small amount of Hash on Koh Tao yesterday at a police check point.

 

It smacks of all the stupidity of a Farang youth on his first trip to Thailand, but hey I guess we have all been young and done stupid things so I have been delegated to help the kid out as he is travelling alone.

 

The short story is he was on the back of a motorbike with another Farang kid he had just met and they had a couple of spliffs at the beach and were on their way back to the hotel when the got stopped. He was holding the small bag of stuff and when they searched them they let the other guy go and nabbed him. He was arrested and taken to the police station and charged. Then released on what he said was about 60,000 THB bail supplied by transfer from mummy.

 

They confiscated his passport and told him to return in 7 days for a urine test and processing.....They did not take a test at the time strangely???

 

So he is now on Samui with little or no money, no passport and shitt*ng himself. He is 21. He said it was a very small amount of weed (bought in Thailand) about

 

enough for a couple of spliffs. Obviously he is not looking for sympathy as it is a deep hole he has dug for himself.

 

What I am interested in is if any of you know of similar occurences and what was the outcome?.....I am surprised they arrested him and even then would expect

that he would get a couple of thousand Tea-Money ticket. Any helpful suggestions would be welcome. No doubting the stupidity or the offence, but trying to predict

the outcome.

 

Many thanks in anticipation.

He will likely get fined and 'possibly' deported afterwards. He should have money available for a ticket home at that time or he will end up in detention until he can buy a ticket. Consulting a lawyer would not be a bad thing to do...may be able to smooth over the process and prevent any foolish statements.

Obviously no interest of where it was bought;)

Firstly, the bail for a small amount of weed at court is 10,000 Baht, so he has been overcharged already. The fine if he pleads guilty at court is 2,500 Baht.

I would suggest try to find, by asking around, a half sensible lawyer to deal with it. It is not a big drama, just make sure he does not lose the receipt from the police station, assuming they gave him one. He will not get deported or any other problem over it. Important thing is not to panic, and to keep a very clean slate for the rest of his time there. Court processing is 48 days, which is when he can plead guilty and pay the fine. A deal with the cops will be quicker but more expensive. When they know he knows the fine level at court, they will be more likely to play ball. Lawyer fee should be no more than 10,000 for something so simple, though they may try for more, 10K is enough.

Hope that helps.

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by darksidedog

21 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Firstly, the bail for a small amount of weed at court is 10,000 Baht, so he has been overcharged already. The fine if he pleads guilty at court is 2,500 Baht.

I would suggest try to find, by asking around, a half sensible lawyer to deal with it. It is not a big drama, just make sure he does not lose the receipt from the police station, assuming they gave him one. He will not get deported or any other problem over it. Important thing is not to panic, and to keep a very clean slate for the rest of his time there. Court processing is 48 days, which is when he can plead guilty and pay the fine. A deal with the cops will be quicker but more expensive. When they know he knows the fine level at court, they will be more likely to play ball. Lawyer fee should be no more than 10,000 for something so simple, though they may try for more, 10K is enough.

Hope that helps.

 

Good info, but now I'm curious.  Does that mean he's stuck in Thailand for 48 days, and if so, how does he stay legal with respect to his visa status?

 

Sounds like he needs to do some financial arrangements, either with the police to get his passport back, or with family to get a couple months of spending money and explain why he's not back at his job for a couple of months.  

 

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by impulse

15 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Good info, but now I'm curious.  Does that mean he's stuck in Thailand for 48 days, and if so, how does he stay legal with respect to his visa status?

 

Sounds like he needs to do some financial arrangements, either with the police to get his passport back, or with family to get a couple months of spending money and explain why he's not back at his job for a couple of months.  

 

He has 2 choices. One negotiate a pay off with the cops or stay and go to court after 48 days. Immigration will issue him with 30 or 90 day visas when he presents his legal documentation. 1,900 baht a time.

The cops will try to hit him up for a lot more than the 2,500 Baht court fine, but it will be much cheaper in the long run to pay them 10 or 20 Grand to finish it than the costs of staying for an extra 6-7 weeks. And they know that. A lawyer is far more likely to get a decent deal and at least some of the 60K paid out already back, which the cops will probably be loath to return.

Taking any drugs here is really a very bad idea.

Such a big deal because of marijuana, what a joke. It should just be legalized already - a substance that is safer than alcohol and tobacco yet the latter two are legal (though already restricted in terms of how/where they can be sold and consumed) but it's weed that's illegal? Makes no sense at all (I know some of the reasons why, which I won't get into here), but I digress.

 

Anyway, in these types of situations, it's best to reach an agreement with the arresting officer quickly before it escalates. That usually involves quite a bit of money, which backpackers usually don't have. That's obviously too late for this kid though.

 

I think if wants to do some weed again on his travels in the future, he might want to look at Cambodia (the islands), Laos (4 thousand islands, previously also Vang Vieng but probably not anymore), Nepal or India, where law enforcement is more lax and there's more of a weed culture than in Thailand where the authorities are cleaning the place up and is moving upmarket so quickly it's becoming increasingly difficult to imagine Thailand as having once been a backpacker haven where these sorts of things were a rite of passage.

My guess is he will be tested and if negative at the time they will give him his passport back and tell him to leave Thailand

1 hour ago, realenglish1 said:

My guess is he will be tested and if negative at the time they will give him his passport back and tell him to leave Thailand

Nope, it'll still be in his urine after 7 days. 

45 minutes ago, grollies said:

Nope, it'll still be in his urine after 7 days. 

Very unlikely, unless he's a hardcore daily user; a urine test should prove negative after 3 - 4 days.

Moved to Islands forum for local advice.

Quote

It smacks of all the stupidity of a Farang youth on his first trip to Thailand, but hey I guess we have all been young and done stupid things 

Nope, don't take drugs in a country that has a reputation for being hard on drugs - problem solved. 

51 minutes ago, goldenbrwn1 said:

Yep, and I'm guessing this wasn't his first joint over here.

Maybe "hash" (concentrated cannabis) is charged differently than green leaf marijuana. That was the case where I came from. 

58 minutes ago, lordblackader said:

Nope, don't take drugs in a country that has a reputation for being hard on drugs - problem solved. 

You mean on an island that has bars up the hill for smoking, sell it, have bongs for use, lovely hamocks with stunning views to chill in, that is also often sold and used openly on the beach clubs, all run by locals...that really seems "hard on" to a young probably first time traveler.

 

but I'm sure you had fun when you were young staying at home, listening to your mother..

Replying to the OP's post, @darksidedog has given you the only advice you need.

 

Replying to the topic heading and 'what do I reckon'......

 

At 21 he's not a kid.

 

Doing drugs in Thailand, very bad move. Our (Thai) nephew just got 3 years inside for meth.

 

Should have dropped his stash on seeing the checkpoint.

 

All in all I reckon he's rather naive.....well, you did ask.

6 hours ago, darksidedog said:

A deal with the cops will be quicker but more expensive.

I don't think one shall count on a deal with the new Chief-of-Police at Koh Samui – it will probably be by the books only. A local lawyer can probably help with how one shall relate, but he cannot do much (i.e. anything) in the Court. Plea guilty and apologize is often the best, and cheapest, and quickest way out. 

6 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Good info, but now I'm curious.  Does that mean he's stuck in Thailand for 48 days, and if so, how does he stay legal with respect to his visa status?

 

Sounds like he needs to do some financial arrangements, either with the police to get his passport back, or with family to get a couple months of spending money and explain why he's not back at his job for a couple of months.  

 

It's his responsibility to get his visa status in order if he chooses to wait 48 days, otherwise, after the trial, he will get fined for overstaying before leaving the country. (I know of a guy who ended up spending some time in detention (IDC) after his trial, because he didn't have enough money to pay the fine for overstaying. They wouldn't let him leave until he could come up with the cash.)

Don't you have a Thai friend who knows someone in police, it happened to me and I paid 50.000 baht and case closed.  Actually there was no case.

3 hours ago, kaorop said:

You mean on an island that has bars up the hill for smoking, sell it, have bongs for use, lovely hamocks with stunning views to chill in, that is also often sold and used openly on the beach clubs, all run by locals...that really seems "hard on" to a young probably first time traveler.

 

but I'm sure you had fun when you were young staying at home, listening to your mother..

 

They bait the trap.

 

The police check the trap.

 

Private/state business co-operation in action.

 

 

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by Enoon

I really don't understand why anyone, irrespective of age, thinks they can flout the laws of any country they are in with impunity. While I agree pot should be legalised, it's not rocket science to respect the laws and customs of the country you are in.

Perhaps he should count himself lucky it wasn't in Singapore - they hang people there for drugs.

7 hours ago, Sapporillo said:

It's his responsibility to get his visa status in order if he chooses to wait 48 days, otherwise, after the trial, he will get fined for overstaying before leaving the country. (I know of a guy who ended up spending some time in detention (IDC) after his trial, because he didn't have enough money to pay the fine for overstaying. They wouldn't let him leave until he could come up with the cash.. 

Immigration will grant you extension as long as you are in court proceedings, no overstay problem.

You just have to go to immigration every 60 days and pay 1900 baht for extension. 

What a stupid boy . He knew the risks so now take the penalty . 

 

 

10 hours ago, Goldbear said:

Maybe "hash" (concentrated cannabis) is charged differently than green leaf marijuana. That was the case where I came from. 

Very unlikely he was using hash.

16 hours ago, jimster said:

Such a big deal because of marijuana, what a joke. It should just be legalized already - a substance that is safer than alcohol and tobacco yet the latter two are legal (though already restricted in terms of how/where they can be sold and consumed) but it's weed that's illegal? Makes no sense at all (I know some of the reasons why, which I won't get into here), but I digress.

 

Anyway, in these types of situations, it's best to reach an agreement with the arresting officer quickly before it escalates. That usually involves quite a bit of money, which backpackers usually don't have. That's obviously too late for this kid though.

 

I think if wants to do some weed again on his travels in the future, he might want to look at Cambodia (the islands), Laos (4 thousand islands, previously also Vang Vieng but probably not anymore), Nepal or India, where law enforcement is more lax and there's more of a weed culture than in Thailand where the authorities are cleaning the place up and is moving upmarket so quickly it's becoming increasingly difficult to imagine Thailand as having once been a backpacker haven where these sorts of things were a rite of passage.

The unfortunate part for this person is that he did not engage his brain before taking an illegal substance.  No matter what your opinion is of whether is should be legal of not, it ain't at the moment and may not be.  And yes, people do make mistakes, some just bigger ones than others and could pay dearly for it.

 

Here he is, in enough ditty at the moment and you want to provide advice that if he wants to break the law again, then he should do it here or there.  Fair dinkum, some people really leave a lot to be desired and are obviously in the same brain camp, or lack of them, as this young bloke, who unfortunately, has decided Thailand is the place where he has his little puffs.  Doesn't really matter how much he had, it is illegal and if he can't stay of the stuff, then don't go on holidays.  Just look at the mess he is in.

 

As some have said, get himself a lawyer one who can speak and understand English because there is a difference, as obviously he doesn't speak Thai, and hopefully the lawyer can deal with the BIB without the matter going to court and the young bloke having his stay delayed any more than is necessary.

sorry to hear his dismal situation ....  however,  drugs are illegal and anyone who uses, pushes or deals knows the rules.

 

Don't do drugs and life will be fine.

16 hours ago, lordblackader said:

Nope, don't take drugs in a country that has a reputation for being hard on drugs - problem solved. 

Thank God I was only hooked on beer and pussy so lived happily in Thailand for 30 years.

23 hours ago, tonray said:

He will likely get fined and 'possibly' deported afterwards. He should have money available for a ticket home at that time or he will end up in detention until he can buy a ticket. Consulting a lawyer would not be a bad thing to do...may be able to smooth over the process and prevent any foolish statements.

Thanks Tonray for the info.

22 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Firstly, the bail for a small amount of weed at court is 10,000 Baht, so he has been overcharged already. The fine if he pleads guilty at court is 2,500 Baht.

I would suggest try to find, by asking around, a half sensible lawyer to deal with it. It is not a big drama, just make sure he does not lose the receipt from the police station, assuming they gave him one. He will not get deported or any other problem over it. Important thing is not to panic, and to keep a very clean slate for the rest of his time there. Court processing is 48 days, which is when he can plead guilty and pay the fine. A deal with the cops will be quicker but more expensive. When they know he knows the fine level at court, they will be more likely to play ball. Lawyer fee should be no more than 10,000 for something so simple, though they may try for more, 10K is enough.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Darkside.