Excise official offers to make amends to tourists hit with liquor fine

By The Nation

 

 

The Excise Department denies that officials preyed on Singaporean tourists at the Suvarnabhumi Airport but has offered to make amends.

 

An executive at the department confirmed on Thursday that he was aware of the complaint that a group of Singaporeans were slapped with a Bt33,000 fine for carrying six bottles of alcohol into Thailand.

 

The tourists have aired on Facebook, which later appeared as a part of the story titled “Bangkok airport scam: 14 S’poreans allegedly asked to pay S$3,160 fine for carrying too much alcohol” on https://mothership.sg/2018/05/bangkok-airport-scam-fine-for-alcohol-cigarettes earlier this week. 

 

The Excise Department had already investigated the report, the Thai official said on condition of anonymity.

 

“The incident took place at Suvarnabhumi Airport but there was a receipt issued for the fine,” he said. 

 

 

“Although they carried six bottles, they came as a group. So, we can be lenient,” he said. 

 

He said his agency would try to contact the Singaporeans in question and offer a remedy.

 

Law allows each passenger to bring one litre of hard liquor into the country. There were 14 Singaporeans in the group but the fine was slapped because the six bottles were shared between two people.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30346253

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-25

Despicable. So many red flags in this story.

How can the fines be negotiated without it being just a shakedown? Surely the fine is non-negotiable.

 

Am sorry but it is clear who has form. Thais in a uniform appear to be unable to help themselves.

 

Good on the travellers for putting the heat on the perps (to a point)

so there is a group of 14 and they had 6 bottles between them, is it just me or is there something amiss with this

 

IMO they were 8 bottles short of their total allowance

Well TAT that certainly will help your tourist figures, not up as you want but down down down.

Welcome to Thailand where you will get scammed before getting to the taxi rank.

I have never understood why customs officers have to resort stopping tourists after they have passed through the customs zone.

They have an area built (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?

1 hour ago, webfact said:

the Thai official said on condition of anonymity

 

Have seen these anonymous officials lurking in the arrivals hall and pouncing on any foreigners carrying bags with dutyfree logos of other airports.

They should have done the descent thing and handed there wallets over

and got back on the same aeroplane back home.

Scum Tourists.  get out,  your not wanted,  just your wallet is. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

“Although they carried six bottles, they came as a group. So, we can be lenient,” he said. 

Yeah, right, that’s what you’re doing...

Back in 2013 me and the Mrs arrived at Swampy from New Zealand.   We had two Litres between us and they had been sealed in one bag, so Customs tried to take them off us and fine us because they said they should be in a separate bag for each person.   It didn't work out well for them because i stood my ground and demanded to see the most Senior Officer on duty and said i was not moving until he attended because i know that what they were trying to do was a scam.   I might add this was with the added difficulty of my wife being typically Thai and trying to get us out of there without the booze and the fine !    After a few minutes they realised i wasn't going to budge and they said 'just this once we will let you go through with it'.

 

The next day i wrote a letter of serious complaint and had the wife translate it to Thai before sending it to the Chief Customs Officer at Swampy.  Still waiting for a reply five years later !

A very poorly organised Customs sting gone wrong. Let this be a lesson to those more professional stingsters like the RTP and gutter tourism scamsters.

The message should be.......let them in easy and leave the rest to us.

 

Customs have been doing this for years. Fine sounds familiar Know of an old couple from my Condo (Japanese) smuggling Saki fleeced for 30,000 baht!

Thousands of tourists and travelers have been relieved of bottles of liquor, fragrances etc all because of scammers who collect it then sell it off to buyers who put it out in the markets and on the internet. Despicable but typical behaviour considering where they work and live.

Thai Customs are a piece of work. They charged me 3000 baht for a Christmas package with shirts, candy etc a few years back, I literally got testy with the male a hole officer sndvtgenand then had to bite my lip. The contents were worth the same of 3000 baht. Not nice. This was CM Customs. 

A shame the headline didn't read 'Excise Official disciplined for committing an act of corruption and blackening the name of the Country' but we won't see that in this galaxy!

3 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Customs have been doing this for years. Fine sounds familiar Know of an old couple from my Condo (Japanese) smuggling Saki fleeced for 30,000 baht!

So how does a couple who by your own admission were smuggling get 'fleeced'? Serves them right.

I can't believe I'm saying this: I agree with the customs officials. (And I hate them).

 

A "group" is not a legal entity that enters a sovereign state. If the law says you can't have more than 1 litre and you have 3 litres in your bag, you're subject to tax. They made a silly mistake and then went online screaming injustice.

 

If the "group" exception IS a new way to get around the import tax, next time I'll load my bag with 23 litres and if questioned will mention that I cam with a "group" of about 250 passengers.

 

Again, I have little love for customs (I've had to pay for homemade clothes sent to me <deleted>)

15 hours ago, smedly said:

so there is a group of 14 and they had 6 bottles between them, is it just me or is there something amiss with this

 

IMO they were 8 bottles short of their total allowance

well, these dillweeds are claiming that the bottles belonged to only two of the tourists.   

Funny how laws become flexible when there is publicity. 

 

My sister was hit with a fine in HK after being caught with too many cigarettes even though she was traveling with a large group of her friends. 

Sometimes its not immediately clear who the criminals are in the story.

13 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

The next day i wrote a letter of serious complaint and had the wife translate it to Thai before sending it to the Chief Customs Officer at Swampy.  Still waiting for a reply five years later !

The answer is probably ready but they are just waiting for some of their officers to finish their crash course in English to translate it so they can send it back to you.

Just be patient please.

16 hours ago, smedly said:

so there is a group of 14 and they had 6 bottles between them, is it just me or is there something amiss with this

 

IMO they were 8 bottles short of their total allowance

There is no "group allowance"

Limits are on an individual basis

3 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Sometimes its not immediately clear who the criminals are in the story.

The people who had too much alcohol on their person , are the people who committed a crime

It is interesting that the Excise lads, who wait outside the B and C Customs exits, knew to swoop in on the two Singaporeans who made the purchase. 

 

One assumes that the King Power staff knowingly made a 'questionable' sale, and then tipped off the Excise staff, while being unaware that these two were part of a larger group.

 

Consolidating a purchase among more than one individual wouldn't seem to be "illegal", but there are so many "laws" here one never knows. Ideally, each individual should have passed through the green channel with just one liter.

 

The Excise staff at SBIA/BKK are doing really well. There are countless stories on Thai social media of Thais getting shaken down on arrival, and having to pay off-book "fines". The typical fine, regardless of items, seems to be 30,000 baht. (Note that many of these Thais may be exceeding the relatively paltry DF allowance. Meanwhile, cabin staff and higher echelon types waltz in with all sorts of goodies, often for resale or gifting.)

 

 

Bangkok airways are experts at confiscating your duty free booze of you. When travelling from Bangkok to Samui I have been hit 3 times by them even tho I had  purchase receipts and they were sealed  they even confiscated a very large sealed jar of marmite . I bet the staff have a hell of a party with all the stuff they seize and of you refuse to hand it over they don’t allow you to get on the flight  I now fly to Suratthani and get the ferry but at least I haven’t had anything taken off me .

Land of the tourist shakedown !  The farangs and other tourists are viewed as prey by Thai police. Very sad.

when i returned in jan this year,i had brooze in the baggage  no one saw and never stopped me.not above my limit.anyway i saw 1 traveller with a duty free bag,guess who they stopped and checked.he was carry his legal amount from what i could see.this is thailand and we all know what can happen

45 minutes ago, Bob12345 said:

he next day i wrote a letter of serious complaint and had the wife translate it to Thai before sending it to the Chief Customs Officer at Swampy.  Still waiting for a reply five years later !

If you got a copy of the letter, get it re translated and you will probably find your wife didn't state that you were angry and wanted a reply, My wife is the same, They are cowards when dealing with officials, and apologizing to them that you don't understand. I try never to involve her in discussions, unless she is also angry with them! or confident to push in to get things moving to her advantage.

17 hours ago, secondfusilier said:

I have never understood why customs officers have to resort stopping tourists after they have passed through the customs zone.

They have an area built (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?

As I know it and have first-hand seen it, the intercept for Excise inspection commonly takes place just after passing the Customs inspection area,  but before you physically pass through and exit the restricted area (just after and adjacent to the frosted glass barrier where non-traveling passengers may not pass.

 

IF so, then I’d argue that you were in fact still in the inspection area and as such would still be subject to official actions. I am not aware that the law explicitly defines or limits the physical place where an Excise inspection may or may not take place with respect to an incoming passenger... 

 

Now IF you in the general population area, I’d argue differently - and largely because a case could be made that the items in question could not longer be assured to be only that of the incoming passenger and not intermixed with property of a non-traveling person who was/is on the public areas and came into contact with the passenger prior to an Excise inspection.

 

In THIS story, as I read it, it’s not absolutely clear on the actual place where the contact was made... and to that end, I do think place matters — again to insure that only goods imported at that time and by that specific passenger are the only things assessed during the inspection and there isn’t any “contamination” of goods.

 

 

Some times it is better to EMS items before you fly back to yourself or better to put in the wife's/girlfriends name (Thai). As post for them normally gets home before you. Plus it will be held at the postoffice near home. If staying at a hotel that you know well send it there or just to the post office for collection. Never send with DHL etc., They charge taxes etc. Another way is to send with carriers like Kerrys. What I tend to do in the past is have the shop send it. 

Carrying the allowance for "other people" is a no no for me. Thai Customs should stand their ground in this instance. They have foolishly managed to make themselves appear shifty.

Duty Free shops should not knowingly sell  people more than their allowance, though I concede the onus of responsibility lies with buyers.