Japanese tourist held at Don Mueang on weapons charges

 

 

A Japanese man was arrested at Don Mueang airport on Wednesday after a large amount of expired rifle magazines and other weapons were discovered in his luggage.

 

Tourist police announced the arrest of Mr Takeru Hirano, 27, after a routine x-ray of his luggage revealed the cache of expired war weapons.

 

Upon questioning the man said he was a collector of old war weapons and parts and had bought the items in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

 

Most recently he had been staying in Pattaya and was returning to Tokyo on Wednesday morning and was arrested prior to boarding an Air Asia X flight.

 

Mr Takeru said he had no idea the items were illegal in Thailand and could not be taken on a plane.

 

Some of the items discovered in his luggage included a disarmed personnel mine and empty AK47 and M16 magazines.

 

Mr Takeru has been charged for illegal possession of firearms, illegally bring firearms into Thailand and attempting to take explosives onto an aircraft.

 

He faces life in prison and/or a maximum fine of 80,000 baht if found guilty.

 

Source: https://touristpolice.go.th/2018/05/09/พบชายชาวญี่ปุ่นนำเครื่/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-5-9

I bet the x-ray checker almost fell off his chair when that lot showed up on the screen.

Surely some mistake?

Looks like a bunch of harmless pieces of metal to me. No ammunition, no guns, no explosives. "War Weapons" sounds impressive though.

 

Lucky he didn't have a flak jacket like that journalist from HK that was detained in Thailand for a few months during the Red Shirt kerfuffle.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

He faces life in prison and/or a maximum fine of 80,000 baht if found guilty.

I like this and/or thing every time....

5 minutes ago, Ralf61 said:

I like this and/or thing every time....

Indeed...  as if 80,000 baht is in any way or form comparable to life in Prison...

And i can see our Super Star "The Big Joke" is back again in this latest bust.

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Indeed...  as if 80,000 baht is in any way or form comparable to life in Prison...

You may perhaps be missing the point. Many Thai laws have this. Wealthy defendant with status gets the fine (provided he hasn't annoyed anyone further up the social ladder) ; Peasant gets decades in prison. It is the perfect system of sentencing for a society that is both highly conservative (protecting those with power and money) and highly corrupt (big incentive for "pre-trial negotiations").

 

You can contrast it with the sentencing guidelines for England and Wales which give judges little room for manoeuvre.

AK and M16 magazines are expired war weapons ! you telling me no military use these anymore I always thought you can reload a magazine oh well

Sorry to ask but how did the apprentice specOP,  bring in the stuff from Vietnam to Thailand ?

 

Sea, Air, Land ?!!...

 

15 minutes ago, tracker1 said:

AK and M16 magazines are expired war weapons ! you telling me no military use these anymore I always thought you can reload a magazine oh well

 

Maybe this Japanese collector knows what he is doing but I would be a bit dubious whether there are many authentic war weapons left in Vietnam.

 

I first went to Saigon in 1991 which was before there was any real tourism. In fact most people assumed I was Russian. But even then there were touts offering GI Dogtags and Zippo lighters that I was warned were almost surely fakes.

 

A bit after that there was a period where collectors came from all over the world buying up the Harley Davidson's, Cadillac's, Citroen's etc. An army surplus dealer friend from home asked me to check it out about 93 but it was too late by then.

 

25 years later, Vietnam has been transformed like no other place (that I know of) on earth. 

Maybe "expired" is the correct word to use for an empty magazine. Just seemed strange to me.

9 hours ago, tracker1 said:

AK and M16 magazines are expired war weapons ! you telling me no military use these anymore I always thought you can reload a magazine oh well

They are not in fact weapons though are they ?

Why wouldn't he had checked them in as luggage? makes no sense to carry them on....

 

sounds more like just a stupid or ignorant fellow 

The personel mine is definitely a war weapon. An explosive device, although deactivated, is an explosive device.

 

could one of you brownies please point at the Japanese tourist? Did he escape already?

Magazines are not weapons,  the claymore the Officer is holding is scary though 

maybe he thought the claymore was a prop like the grenades they have on beach road

 

in any case,  I can't imagine why magazines would be a big deal.. confiscate yea, but it's not like

the mine

 

"apprentice special op lol"  just some guy that thought it was cool,  hope they don't tell him he could

get life.. that might give him a heart attack

43 minutes ago, ukrules said:

They are not in fact weapons though are they ?

The law in most countries usually is worded to include such "weapons or parts there-of" and in Thailand it also specifically inudes bullet proof vests in the same act. Bad translating as well, I bet.

21 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

 

could one of you brownies please point at the Japanese tourist? Did he escape already?

 

No, he hasn't escaped. Just waiting for a chair.

 

Cops did the right thing and blurred his face on the pic, then bugger me ..... they've put a nice photo of his passport page on the internet.

 

 

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

Maybe "expired" is the correct word to use for an empty magazine. Just seemed strange to me.

Same here. Even "expended" doesn't quite do it for me. I often wonder who writes these articles and titles. I also often wonder how many see the difference between the usage of "amount" and "number" as is often recognized by American English speakers/writers ("number" being used for items that can be individually counted, "amount" used for something that can't be individually counted - same for "fewer" and "less"). Or is it just me and English is being changed in a way that simplifies it?:

 

A Japanese man was arrested at Don Mueang airport on Wednesday after a large amount number of expired rifle magazines and other weapons were discovered in his luggage.

 

Onward to the OP. How long has this seeming paranoia/overreaction w/r harmless weapons components been going on in Thailand (especially those items headed outbound or being passed through)? Would the law apply to a wooden gun stock or a telescopic sight?

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, cardinalblue said:

Why wouldn't he had checked them in as luggage? makes no sense to carry them on....

 

sounds more like just a stupid or ignorant fellow 

Doesn't say anywhere they were carry-on luggage. They scan hold baggage as well of course. Also nice to see the photographer had to get up high to include the FIFTEEN staff (and a hand) who crowded into the photo op. Very easy to spot Wally(s).

At least is shows that some security in Thailand actually work...

Sorry for the positive statement.....

can't see any arms in it 

32 minutes ago, electric said:

 

No, he hasn't escaped. Just waiting for a chair.

 

Cops did the right thing and blurred his face on the pic, then bugger me ..... they've put a nice photo of his passport page on the internet.

 

 

oh yes i see him .... his arm less 

12 hours ago, Ralf61 said:

I like this and/or thing every time....

If he had been caught taking these into Japan he would be looking at a very long time in prison. Japan has some of the toughest laws against citizens having guns or war weapons. Only the Yakuza Mafia Gang has them and the police don't mess with the gangs at all.

Thank God they stopped this terrorist!

 

Practice dummy training claymore, antique rifle magazines, and who knows what else he was smuggling.

 

How did he get his hands on these in Vietnam?

(If your not in the military or police in Nam, you can get arrested for having a sharp stick and need a permit and a good reason to have a BB gun.)

 

I pray he didn't get his hands on a P38 or P51. These were carried by almost every Grunt and tore up more metal than anything else did when I did my tour of duty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

a large amount of expired rifle magazines and other weapons

Cannot bring expired magazines on board?

Simple

really he should have declared them. Hard to get on a plane with a plastic water pistol that looks like a fire arm

let alone a de activated AK47 bombs the lot

 

plus he could have hijacked the plane with that because I doubt passengers would like to test if they are active or not when in mid air

14 hours ago, thedemon said:

Looks like a bunch of harmless pieces of metal to me. No ammunition, no guns, no explosives. "War Weapons" sounds impressive though.

 

Lucky he didn't have a flak jacket like that journalist from HK that was detained in Thailand for a few months during the Red Shirt kerfuffle.

Disarmed personnel mine .... There is enough explosives in a mine to cut a 747 in half .... It had only been disarmed.

 

1 hour ago, Juan B Tong said:

Thank God they stopped this terrorist!

 

Practice dummy training claymore, antique rifle magazines, and who knows what else he was smuggling.

 

How did he get his hands on these in Vietnam?

(If your not in the military or police in Nam, you can get arrested for having a sharp stick and need a permit and a good reason to have a BB gun.)

 

I pray he didn't get his hands on a P38 or P51. These were carried by almost every Grunt and tore up more metal than anything else did when I did my tour of duty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luv the old compo tin opener 55555