E-cigarette users urge quick solution after tourist’s bribery accusation

By THE NATION

 

File photo : Photo courtesy of Patchilit Ruangsri

 

A NETWORK of e-cigarette users has called on the authorities to quickly come up with appropriate solutions to regulate e-cigarettes in order to protect the country’s image among foreign tourists.

 

They also plan to submit suggestions to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. 

 

The suggestion was in response to a news report on French online media outlet Var-matin, which reported that Thai authorities had demanded a Bt40,000 bribe from a Frenchwoman to free her after she was arrested for possessing an e-cigarette.

 

The 31-year-old woman was on vacation in Phuket in January. She was allowed to return home last month, but then shared her experience with the media.

 

“The news hurts the country’s image as a tourist destination. It’s a result of the ban on e-cigarettes, which is causing confusion in law enforcement,” Maris Karanyawat, representing the End Cigarette Smoke Thailand group, said in a press statement yesterday.

 

He said the network wanted the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Foreign Trade to quickly find appropriate regulations that could replace the ban on e-cigarettes.

 

Thailand in 2014 banned the import, sale and servicing of e-cigarettes, with violators facing punishment based on notifications from the Commerce Ministry as well as orders from the Consumer Protection Board.

 

A working panel led by the ministry late last year assigned the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC) to conduct a study of legal hurdles affecting implementation of the ban. 

 

“We are concerned that the TRC may not be a suitable agency to conduct the study because they would be prejudiced, and that could lead to results that are neither comprehensive nor fair,” Maris said. 

 

He said he had earlier submitted a letter to the ministry urging that a more neutral agency be assigned to study the pros and cons of e-cigarettes.

 

“If no action is taken, we will submit the letter to Prime Minister Prayut,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30365113

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-04

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

E-cigarette users urge quick solution after tourist’s bribery accusation

Just deny the whole affair ever happened, but later claim the tourist had been given the e-cigarette by a dead friend.

Police bribery? It was a misunderstanding of course. Non of the police had any experience of speaking French, making communication difficult.

Why ban E Cigarettes and not real ones? Oh yes they collect 60 billion in taxes on cigarettes 90% of the cost

^

communication difficult here in perfect thai lol .

10,000 Baht per head seems to be the magic number on that side of the island. How about a solution to put a law into place like other 1st world and developed countries have that if three or more people commit a crime together, in this instance it would be extortion, they get charged and sentenced as an organised crime syndicate. 1st world countries also have a system where they now psychologically test and partner up cops with one another in which one would tell on the other if one would commit a crime / take a bribe. Accusation? I don't think so. Cover up? Definitely.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

If no action is taken, we will submit the letter to Prime Minister Prayut,” he said.

and he will throw the letter, unread, in the drawer with all the other unread letters

1 minute ago, YetAnother said:

1 hour ago, webfact said:

If no action is taken, we will submit the letter to Prime Minister Prayut,” he said.

and he will throw the letter, unread, in the drawer with all the other unread letters

In the drawer? I would have thought the PM would be more energy conscious than that, and recycle the letters straight away.

 

I use the word 'conscious' in the sense of being aware, not necessarily appearing awake.

23 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

and he will throw the letter, unread, in the drawer with all the other unread letters

I think he might use a dumpster, not a drawer. Letters like these are filed under "S" (Shred).

Quote

in order to protect the country’s image among foreign tourists.

Wow, That's a tall order, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

1 hour ago, waynerooney said:

Why ban E Cigarettes and not real ones? Oh yes they collect 60 billion in taxes on cigarettes 90% of the cost

Think they are still fixing that Tax thing for E-cigs.

i'm sure they will get there in the end.

Carry on Thailand.

 

They will need a box mod without a tank hopefully after the fair election to sort out this shambles ???? 

Be buggered , E smokes, normal smokes banning ,

 

but now we legalise marjiana 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

It’s a result of the ban on e-cigarettes, which is causing confusion in law enforcement,”

to clear up the confusion the police needed a bribe

so, instead of disciplining the cockroaches that tried to extort her, they deport the victim.   sounds logical, at least in Bizarroland.  she was wise to have waited until she got home to post the story, otherwise, she might have met with a tragic accident. 

13 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Contraband cigs on sale all over Pattaya. 

...and it is definitely not a gang of charwomen behind the business.

I had a friend who smoked the E cig. a lot...He died about 9 months ago. Can't help thinking about him when I read these stories ...and how he would have felt about it all 

  Well...my dear friend,...hope you are resting in peace now...these concerns are no longer yours.

2 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Think they are still fixing that Tax thing for E-cigs.

i'm sure they will get there in the end.

Carry on Thailand.

 

Tax as posted is most likely the cause, with influence from tobacco groups ECT in LOS pressuring the govt.

Sorting the tax E Ciggs would be difficult as juice can be homemade easily.

It also could be smuggled through customs unlabelled.

Probably why they don't take the no brainer approach that although harmful, not as near harmful AS THE REAL DEAL.

Well I didn’t think possessing an e-cigarette was a crime even. I thought the import and sale was prohibited. I guess it must be illegal to use one but it is not mentioned in the article.

 

Was this woman even arrested for breaking a real law? I ask because I know from experience you can get dragged into the courts on the most absurd accusations which judges usually simply accept for whatever reason. For a foreigner once a case is accepted your passport must be surrendered and you are forced onto a court visa immediately. That is bad enough but you have to post bail as well using a Thai to guarantee you will show up (which costs), you must apply for new visas every 90 days by submitting a request to court (in Thai so needs a lawyer to prepare unless you can do it yourself in Thai) for the passport return so you can go to immigration with a whole raft of paperwork to get a 30 day stamp for 1900 baht while the application is sent off somewhere. Usually you then take the passport back to court and make another application for the return of the passport after the 30 days are up (in Thai again so another fee for someone for most people), off to immigration for the stamp and back to court to drop it off. You continue this routine every 90 days and bad luck if they managed to file the case away from where you live as there will be a lot of travel coming up to follow the procedures where the case is filed.

 

if immigration don’t like the letter the court gives you then you have to go back to have the wording changed and back and forward until immigration and court are in sync. All your responsibility by the way as middleman persuading the court and immigration officials to get their paperwork in order. And we know how amenable Thais are to being told something is not quite correct - instant resistance.

 

Now if that is it enough you obviously cannot work in practice because no employer will make work permit applications every three months and likely the visa will be permanently practically expired by the time the WP approval arrives. In fact you probably can’t even apply - not sure as I don’t know many employers keen to give jobs to accused people. I can’t even apply for a driving license while on a court visa. Anyway...

 

All this because some <deleted> puts in a case against you with no grounds whatsoever. So for this French woman it made sense to pay I guess.

 

The sick thing is that you can get dragged into such situations having done nothing wrong and extorted and no one will help nor cares - certainly not your Embassy. If you don’t submit to this you end up as my experience (going on several years and still ongoing despite someone else already admitting the facts and convicted and sentence served - by the same court).

 

Apart from the impossibility of the case and the fact another admitted the fraud and the fact you cannot commit perjury by submitting a case since perjury is a lie under oath, the case still sits suspended and the inability to work and cost of repeated applications for the short term visas continues. 

 

Unfortunately my responsibility to my four kids remains while I am stuck in this place.

 

She did the right thing but no doubt the extorting officers will be promoted - evidence that that goes on I know of too.

 

Don’t ever be too sure of yourself here and it really is pointless to seek justice because the procedures make justice impossible in any practical sense.

Cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco

Already taxed.

E-cigs.To be taxed.

Maritijuana(Shes a lovely bit of brass, nevertheless)To be taxed.

Ah well, as election time approaches,please hand me my bong,the issue of tax has become very Thaksin on my brain.

2 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

There is no confusion.

 

You break the law, you either become a victim of extortion or you open yourself up to the Thai legal system and good luck with that. 

 

It's pretty simple how it works. 

Yes that's true Father, and on occasion one pays the bribe (even if innocent) and also faces the Thai legal system at a later date when the extortionists have moved elsewhere. Happened to a friend of mine.

truth hurts? <deleted> babies!

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai authorities had demanded a Bt40,000 bribe from a Frenchwoman

 

usually it is a french guy wearing a thai police uniform extorting tourists

5 hours ago, YetAnother said:

and he will throw the letter, unread, in the drawer with all the other unread letters

With his watch collection  

This episode clearly shows that the junta knows nuts about running the country. It is better off for him and his whole lot to remove themselves from power before further disgracing their country. 

2 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

There is no confusion.

 

You break the law, you either become a victim of extortion or you open yourself up to the Thai legal system and good luck with that. 

 

It's pretty simple how it works. 

Been there and done that. 

Can cost a lot of money to convince others of your innocence. 

Once you have gone through it,  its like a get out of jail card for future use.

 

And you become a part of the whole corrupt system. ????

6 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Just deny the whole affair ever happened, but later claim the tourist had been given the e-cigarette by a dead friend.

Police bribery? It was a misunderstanding of course. Non of the police had any experience of speaking French, making communication difficult.

as far as I remember, there was mention of a Francophone volunteer in earlier posts. but don't remember Patts or Phuket.

For good order let me elaborate this remark is NOT to knock Tourist Police Volunteers, I was helped not too long ago, by an audibly American volunteer who happened to be around, to get someone from the lock-up before a long weekend, with just fifteen minutes to arrange the Bail documents. 
The guy was doing his job, the way he perceived it to be, Protect and Serve, no facilitation expected.
Respect !!

This entire E cigarette business is just a complete scam by the police / government. There are no real clear laws and what laws there are can be selectively activated to suit when it comes to scamming money from tourists. You will notice that there seems to be a complete lack of prosecutions against Thais - it is a law that is solely selected on the accused ability to pay off the fine / bribe. I know for a fact that there are a large number of Thai kids (usually under 18) that are ordering all of these E - cigarettes online from one of Thailands biggest e retailers. They are then delivered by one of Thailands biggest private carrier company's. No one is worried about prosecution as they know it is not going to happen, as they all know that there is no money in it for the BIB.

This place and its laws must be the laughing stock of Asia as well as the West. Pathetic, time to sort it out scammer!

Here's a suggestion: scrap the excise law. Takes care of price of cheese and wine as well. No? Didn't think so.

TiT. Their country, their rules. Don’t like it? Don’t go/stay. That’s easy to do, worked for me.

Ridiculous law from a ridiculous country.