US pensioner arrested for staying in Thailand illegally

[Jonathan Fairfield]

US pensioner arrested for staying in Thailand illegally

 

Image: Naew Na

 

Immigration in Nong Khai have arrested a 69 year old American man for staying in Thailand illegally.

 

Naew Na reported that Kenneth Dirac (name transliterated from Thai) had gone to the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge then back to Bangkok without a stamp then back to the bridge again. 

 

The pensioner is now in the custody of the Nong Khai immigration.

 

Naew Na said he was reported by police captain (female) Wilai Thaiphakdee as having sneaked into Thailand through the exit area.

 

He came into the kingdom on 9th April with permission to stay until May 8th. He extended his visa in Bangkok until June 7th. 

 

On June 9th he presented his passport for stamping at the bridge but never actually left. 

 

Yesterday - Monday 17th June - he presented his passport to go to Laos but it was found that he had never crossed the border on the 9th.

 

Instead he had gone back to Bangkok. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-06-18

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

 

 

[RJRS1301]

^{Back to pointing class for those officers, negligence of duty.}

 

[holy cow cm]

Sounds like he misunderstood something and now they are making him look like the evil foreigner. He certainly tried as he travelled to the bridge twice. 

[bangkokfrog]

Am I missing something? All this fuss over a 10 day overstay?

[FritsSikkink]

10 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Sounds like he misunderstood something and now they are making him look like the evil foreigner. He certainly tried as he travelled to the bridge twice. 

Stupidity isn't an excuse for a crime.

[geoffbezoz]

So it took 5 IOs to arrest one 69 year old man ? Guess that's about right for Thais. Mind you it states that "police captain (female) Wilai Thaiphakdee as having sneaked into Thailand through the exit area" so was she more upset he came in the back door ?  ????.

[Isaanbiker]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Stupidity isn't an excuse for a crime.

First, the media call him a criminal, then another foreigner on an anonymous forum. What exactly was his crime? 10 days overstay? 

 

  We don't know why he didn't cross the bridge, could he have some personal issues? But that doesn't seem to matter, does it? 

 

  

[ezzra]

10 minutes ago, bangkokfrog said:

Am I missing something? All this fuss over a 10 day overstay?

Me think the fuss is about him sneaking in without going through the proper channels...

[smedly]

his error is rather minor IMO, he did a border run got stamped out but didn't leave and enter the joining country - hardly crime of the century is it ?

 

simple to correct

[Estrada]

I had this problem once. Flew to Singapore for a meeting in the airport transit area with a friends transiting through Singapore Airport. Neither of us entered Singapore but I exited Thailand. They gave my agro at Immigration because they said I must enter the other country. (Thai logic). I remember years ago a friend used to go to a border crossing, get stamped out and then go to the the end of the building and get stamped back in again. It seems like there are people still using this system. I do not believe that there is anything in the regulations that stated you have to enter another country after receiving an exit stamp.

[colinneil]

This is just a case of the IOs involved making a major thing out of nothing.

Oh look we are doing a fantastic job, we nabbed this farang offender, took 5 of us, pathetic.

Who knows maybe the poor man got confused, made a simple error, it does happen sometimes to older folk.

[essox essox]

36 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Sounds like he misunderstood something and now they are making him look like the evil foreigner. He certainly tried as he travelled to the bridge twice. 

really pathetic !!!....

[VocalNeal]

8 minutes ago, smedly said:

his error is rather minor IMO, he did a border run got stamped out but didn't leave and enter the joining country - hardly crime of the century is it ?

 

No, but rules are rules and ignorance of the law is no excuse. 

 

It cannot be super easy to re-enter Thailand on the leaving side?

[champers]

Looks like intimidation and bullying to me. 5 officers onto 1 OAP. How proud they look.

[Matzzon]

It might be as easy as he first tried to leave with a 2 day overstay. At that time he got told to go pay the overstay fine in the office. he got confused and went back in. Crazy and confused thought it over for nother 8 days, and tried to cross again. Probably a bid misunderstanding from his part, but still a wrongful act and he have to dance the tune to it.

Sometimes you wish they would be a little more understanding, but that would also create more power for the single officer, which is enough like it already is.

[essox essox]

22 minutes ago, colinneil said:

This is just a case of the IOs involved making a major thing out of nothing.

Oh look we are doing a fantastic job, we nabbed this farang offender, took 5 of us, pathetic.

Who knows maybe the poor man got confused, made a simple error, it does happen sometimes to older folk.

yeah but THEY do NOT make allowances DO THEY????

[holy cow cm]

32 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Stupidity isn't an excuse for a crime.

Could have been confusion and in the past he would have been fine with no problems like today. I don't think he intentionally committed the great farang crime. Like anyone new to the system, it is never easy.

 

9 minutes ago, essox essox said:

really pathetic !!!....

I think that is a rude statement. Not everyone is a brain surgeon like you!

[ballpoint]

The hypocrisy on this site knows no bounds, neither, it would seem, does the lack of comprehension.  This man exited Thailand and did not enter Laos, neither did he turn around and try to legally re-enter Thailand immediately.  He illegally re-entered by bypassing immigration.  He overstayed from June 7th to 9th, but that is not the reason for his arrest.  He did not overstay after the 9th as he had no visa to overstay on.  He was here illegally from June 9th to June 17th, with no entry stamp and no record of his being in the country.  And the anti-illegal-immigration-in-their-home-country brigade once again use it as an excuse to bash Thailand for not letting a 'decent' white man come and go as he pleases, without all that annoying getting the right visa and passing through immigration business.  No doubt, when rules change again due to people like him breaking the law, these same posters will once again squeal loudly and blame Thai immigration for enforcing its own laws.

[NCC1701A]

where is the SWAT team? These five IO's are pushing their luck.

Edited June 18, 2019 by NCC1701A

[bluesofa]

55 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

So it took 5 IOs to arrest one 69 year old man ? Guess that's about right for Thais. Mind you it states that "police captain (female) Wilai Thaiphakdee as having sneaked into Thailand through the exit area" so was she more upset he came in the back door ?  ????.

Was that a double entendre there by chance?

[asiaexpat]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Stupidity isn't an excuse for a crime.

Is misunderstanding or confusion "stupidity." Thai media is grasping at any Immigration issue since this was obviously not an intended overstay. 

[geoffbezoz]

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Was that a double entendre there by chance?

 

[rkidlad]

The very first time I ever did a border run I made a mistake too. I went with an agency but they just left me on my own. Luckily, I got ripped off by some Cambodian border guy who said I had to pay 200 baht to leave Cambodia. I paid him and he asked me if I knew where I was going. I didn't. He brought me up to the Thai side and told me where to wait for my bus company, etc. 

 

It can be confusing for people who don't know what they're doing. 

[Gecko123]

What you see when you look in the mirrror....

 

 

What immigration sees when they look at you:

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Gecko123

[PingRoundTheWorld]

2 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

He was here illegally from June 9th to June 17th, with no entry stamp and no record of his being in the country. 

From the sound of it, and his age, it might've been an honest mistake rather than a criminal mastermind. He did go back to attempt and "fix" his mistake which is when he was arrested (or to be more accurate turned himself in). Hardly a hardened criminal, so parading him around on media like that is unwarranted, and he will probably be banned for a good few years which at his age is a lot - all the fuss over 10 days when you have thousands of people from Myanmar/Laos/etc enter and stay illegally for much longer. Not to mention overstayers which BJ claimed to have cleared out but I'm sure there's plenty left.

[simon43]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Me think the fuss is about him sneaking in without going through the proper channels...

How did he sneak in when he didn't go out? ????

[phuketrichard]

48 minutes ago, Estrada said:

I had this problem once. Flew to Singapore for a meeting in the airport transit area with a friends transiting through Singapore Airport. Neither of us entered Singapore but I exited Thailand. They gave my agro at Immigration because they said I must enter the other country. (Thai logic). I remember years ago a friend used to go to a border crossing, get stamped out and then go to the the end of the building and get stamped back in again. It seems like there are people still using this system. I do not believe that there is anything in the regulations that stated you have to enter another country after receiving an exit stamp.

whenever you leave by land ur stamped out, you LEGALLY need enter another country before you return to the previous one.

Thai's and most countries check for the entry/exit stamp.

Flying in is something else thou.

[simon43]

Looks like intimidation and bullying to me. 5 officers onto 1 OAP. How proud they look.

 

5 officers onto 1 OAP?  Looks more like 5 Thai OAPs onto 1 foreign OAP.....

[freedomnow]

1 hour ago, bangkokfrog said:

Am I missing something? All this fuss over a 10 day overstay?

Any opportunity for them to get in the press to look active vs the 'olden days'

[freedomnow]

6 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

whenever you leave by land ur stamped out, you LEGALLY need enter another country before you return to the previous one.

Thai's and most countries check for the entry/exit stamp.

Flying in is something else thou.

You mean connecting flight is the exception ?