Customs woes at Swampy

[hotchilli]

Yesterday 27th Feb an acquaintance of mine from Germany came to Thailand... Frankfurt to Bkk via Dubai flying with Etihad.

On his stop-over at Dubai he bought 4 packs of cigarettes from their duty-free shop, (each pack 200 cigarettes)

he and his wife both smoke so he bought two packs for each of them...

on his arrival at Swampy customs pulled him over to explain the cigarettes.. he admitted he was over the limit with the four packs...

they hit him with a fine of 30,000 baht (approx 780 euro) and confiscated all the cigarettes !!!

He was one very p****d off traveler... saying he has been to Thailand every year for 10 years.. vowing this is his last trip ever here!!

 

[Techno Viking]

So whats the issue, he got fined for the attempted illegal import of cigarettes..... boohoo.

 

Next time declare them, or only bring 1 sleeve of 200 per person.

[steven100]

8 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

saying he has been to Thailand every year for 10 years

so what ....   !      I bet the customs officers laughed.  He should have declared then and paid the import tax.  

[KhunBENQ]

43 minutes ago, Techno Viking said:

Next time declare them, or only bring 1 sleeve of 200 per person.

And put each carton separately in wife's and his baggage.

 

If he came to Thailand for 10 years he should really have known that cigarettes and alcohol over the limit are an easy catch for customs and fines are draconic.

[robblok]

i believe in most countries in the world its one carton 200 cigarettes and a liter of alcohol per person. Break the rules face the fines. 

 

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

It's ludicrous for the traveller to huff and puff when he was caught flouting the import law, which every nation in the world has. Even more ludicrous when you can buy a carton of cigs for around 700 baht at the duty free in the Swampy luggage area. He could have bought 42+ cartons for the fine. 

[InMyShadow]

"vowing this is his last trip ever here!! "

 

devastating 

[FritsSikkink]

Oh my. I got caught breaking the law, won't be there again. 

Don't know why the OP even post this non news.

[InMyShadow]

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Oh my. I got caught breaking the law, won't be there again. 

Don't know why the OP even post this non news.

He was clearly expecting thai bashers to have his back...oh well you cant fix stupid I guess

[Suradit69]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

vowing this is his last trip ever here!!

I hope we can all soldier on without him.

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

i believe in most countries in the world its one carton 200 cigarettes and a liter of alcohol per person. Break the rules face the fines. 

 

Yes. I haven't flown in to Thailand in a long time, but at least in the past before the plane landed they handed out a customs declaration form that made very clear what the importation limits were and what needed to be declared. 

 

And for someone arriving in Germany from outside the EU, the rules are pretty much the same: 

 

 http://www.zoll.de/EN/Private-individuals/Travel/Entering-Germany/Duties-and-taxes/Travellers-allowances/travellers-allowances_node.html

 

Quote

 

Restrictions on quantities and value

1. Tobacco products, if the importer is at least 17 years old:

   • 200 cigarettes or
   • 100 cigarillos or
   • 50 cigars or
   • 250 grammes tobacco or
   • a proportionate combination of these goods.

 

1. •  

[theoldgit]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

i believe in most countries in the world its one carton 200 cigarettes and a liter of alcohol per person. Break the rules face the fines. 

 

Of course in Singapore the limit is zero, I suppose he won't be going there either.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

I thought backpackers were cheap Charlies, not established farangs who fail to declare a pack of ciggies

[Briggsy]

This may have been the Excise Dept. rather than Customs. Depends where he was stopped at Suvannaphoom. It is a moneyspinner. They have spotters looking for evidence of purchases made in Middle East transit airports (where limits are not applied, boarding passes not really checked and the fags are very cheap). I believe the fine is 10 times the unpaid duty. Ouch.

 

I suggest you don't do it or at least hide the duty free bag.

[realenglish1]

It is mostly the same all over the world I have no sympathy for your friend

He was caught smuggling and is paying the price

 

 

His comments about not coming to Thailand holds no water

[wanderluster]

2 hours ago, robblok said:

i believe in most countries in the world its one carton 200 cigarettes and a liter of alcohol per person. Break the rules face the fines. 

 

australia and new zealand only allow 50 cigarettes per person.

[biggles45]

I have been reading reports on this type of customs activity at Swampy for 10 years or so. Nothing new, and yes they do target people,who have duty free. I come thru every 2 months or so and have never been stopped, but I have never brought Duty free with me

[KhunBENQ]

22 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

They have spotters looking for evidence of purchases made in Middle East transit airports

I experienced this many years ago.

Coming in via Doha/Qatar with my wife.

Having put the duty free bag (within limits) prominently on top.

All the way to the checkpoint one of these "undercover" agents (black T-shirt/trousers and huge amulet ) followed us in some distance always looking away when I turned the head.

I found it highly amusing

[Briggsy]

1 minute ago, KhunBENQ said:

I experienced this many years ago.

Coming in via Doha/Qatar with my wife.

Having put the duty free bag (within limits) prominently on top.

All the way to the checkpoint one of these "undercover" agents (black T-shirt/trousers and huge amulet) followed us in some distance always looking away when I turned the head.

I found it highly amusing

Ha ha, yes. Even the Thais joke about undercover cops (or undercover related wannabe pseudo-cops) standing out like a sore thumb.

[Wiggy]

If he was on Etihad, he would’ve gone via Abu Dhabi. Dubai is Emirates. Not that it’s important. 

[owl sees all]

Good time to pack up smoking. Is snout that much cheaper in the middle east than Thailand? Probably getting authentic fags in Abu Daubi though. Coppies and fakes in Thailand!!

[alex8912]

Let him know that he and his chimney smoking wife actually saved money. They both would have gone to the beach and smoked and smoked and smoked and then EACH of them would be paying a much larger fine than at swampy!! 

If I read this post correctly they had 40 packs of cigarettes for a vacation?? Gross. (For me a pack is 20 cigarettes, for addicts like your friend I guess a pack is 200 cigs lol )

[jobwolf]

4 hours ago, Techno Viking said:

So whats the issue, he got fined for the attempted illegal import of cigarettes..... boohoo.

 

Next time declare them, or only bring 1 sleeve of 200 per person.

What a st.... comment. Why fine him 1200% of the purchase price?

 

[Techno Viking]

6 minutes ago, jobwolf said:

What a st.... comment. Why fine him 1200% of the purchase price?

 

Prolly best you direct that question to those that imposed the penalty but huge fines for this sort of thing is very common and well documented.

[timendres]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

so what ....   !      I bet the customs officers laughed.  He should have declared then and paid the import tax.  

What?! This is a revelation for me. Are you saying that I can bring more than one carton of cigarettes into Thailand, IF I simply declare I have more, and pay the duty tax on the extra cartons?

 

I truly love American Spirit cigarettes, but of course I cannot purchase them here. Occasionally, someone I know will visit Thailand, and I beg them to bring me a carton. But a carton does not last long. If I could have them bring 4 cartons, I would be very happy, and more than happy to pay the tax to be legal.

 

Can anyone confirm that I can bring in more than one carton by simply declaring and paying tax?

Has anyone done this with cigarettes, and can you briefly explain how I do this to ensure no problems?

Is there still then a limit to the number I can bring in and declare?

 

Thank you so much for any clarification on this matter.

[timendres]

21 minutes ago, jobwolf said:

What a st.... comment. Why fine him 1200% of the purchase price?

The answer is obvious.

If the fine is not punitive, people will always just take their chances that they don't get checked.

[Just Weird]

24 minutes ago, jobwolf said:

What a st.... comment. Why fine him 1200% of the purchase price?

 

Because it's the law?

[Techno Viking]

8 minutes ago, timendres said:

What?! This is a revelation for me. Are you saying that I can bring more than one carton of cigarettes into Thailand, IF I simply declare I have more, and pay the duty tax on the extra cartons?

 

I truly love American Spirit cigarettes, but of course I cannot purchase them here. Occasionally, someone I know will visit Thailand, and I beg them to bring me a carton. But a carton does not last long. If I could have them bring 4 cartons, I would be very happy, and more than happy to pay the tax to be legal.

 

Can anyone confirm that I can bring in more than one carton by simply declaring and paying tax?

Has anyone done this with cigarettes, and can you briefly explain how I do this to ensure no problems?

Is there still then a limit to the number I can bring in and declare?

 

Thank you so much for any clarification on this matter.

I beleive one would go through the red channel but I suspect there is prolly some stupid rule in that you need an import permit  or some such crap.

[saakura]

9 minutes ago, timendres said:

What?! This is a revelation for me. Are you saying that I can bring more than one carton of cigarettes into Thailand, IF I simply declare I have more, and pay the duty tax on the extra cartons?

 

I truly love American Spirit cigarettes, but of course I cannot purchase them here. Occasionally, someone I know will visit Thailand, and I beg them to bring me a carton. But a carton does not last long. If I could have them bring 4 cartons, I would be very happy, and more than happy to pay the tax to be legal.

 

Can anyone confirm that I can bring in more than one carton by simply declaring and paying tax?

Has anyone done this with cigarettes, and can you briefly explain how I do this to ensure no problems?

Is there still then a limit to the number I can bring in and declare?

 

Thank you so much for any clarification on this matter.

Of course you can declare it, pay the import tax and bring it in legally. All you have to do is walk up to the red channel and declare it to the officer there. Of course, the quantity should be commensurate for personal consumption & not for commercial purposes. 4 cartons should be no problem at all.

[timendres]

1 minute ago, saakura said:

Of course you can declare it, pay the import tax and bring it in legally. All you have to do is walk up to the red channel and declare it to the officer there. Of course, the quantity should be commensurate for personal consumption & not for commercial purposes. 4 cartons should be no problem at all.

Thank you so much.

Can anyone confirm that they have actually done this specifically with cigarettes?