X Ray Screening of Bags at Suvarnabumi Airport

[brucegoniners]

Hey all,

 

Do you know if customs is now x-raying bags at Suvarnabumi Airport?

 

Please only comment if you’ve arrived there in the last 2 weeks.

 

Thanks in advance.

[fredob43]

I arrived 2+ months ago but friends of mine come last week and they had the same. Yes they are screening some bags as we came through customs, but as there was several people in front of me they told me to go through. My friend wasn't so lucky they stopped him. Not a problem as he didn't have anything that was dodgy. So if your thinking of bringing anything that's as stated dodgy be extra careful.

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by fredob43

[brucegoniners]

Thanks. Nothing dodgy, just some supplements they may want to tax.

[ThomasThBKK]

17 minutes ago, brucegoniners said:

Thanks. Nothing dodgy, just some supplements they may want to tax.

Worth how much? 

landed at DMK yday, they xrayed a lot of people - more than normally. I didn't get xrayed tho, me and gf were one of the few they winked through actually.

 

They mostly xray thais/chinese that come from abroad, as those often bring stuff to resell here. They are usually not interested in westerners at all from my experience.

 

20 000 THB is the free amount on personal goods u won't have to declare, this is for new items u are bringing in and would also apply to your supplements.

 

http://www.customs.go.th/list_strc_simple_neted.php?ini_content=individual_160503_03_160905_01&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_01_160421_01#targetText=Personal belongings in reasonable quantity,or restricted goods or food&targetText=For the excess quantities of,prosecution will be carried out.

[elgenon]

Not screened recently, but the time they did they didn't even look at the xray.

[Wiggy]

I came through Suvarnabhumi 2 weeks ago and about 1 in 20 people were having their bags x-rayed. They were all Asian.

[PETERTHEEATER]

For the excess quantities of cigarettes, tobacco or alcoholic beverages, they must be dropped in the box provided by Customs, 

 

????

Edited August 14, 2019 by blackcab
Font normalised

[Guderian]

The favourite target for checks at Customs in swampy seems to be young Asian women from what I've seen.

Admittedly, only flying in twice a year, that's not exactly a comprehensive survey.

[legend49]

Maybe the point is missed? responses here are the customs group who randomly screen bags on exit. Its the bags once they loaded into the airport for the carousel that get screened. I took my suitcase off the carousel to go upstairs for domestic travel and there was a new sticker on it screened by Swampy.

[wombat]

42 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

I came through Suvarnabhumi 2 weeks ago and about 1 in 20 people were having their bags x-rayed. They were all Asian.

the British interpretation of Asian ?

[ThomasThBKK]

19 minutes ago, legend49 said:

Maybe the point is missed? responses here are the customs group who randomly screen bags on exit. Its the bags once they loaded into the airport for the carousel that get screened. I took my suitcase off the carousel to go upstairs for domestic travel and there was a new sticker on it screened by Swampy.

 

That's normal, all bags get screened for security. If they see something suspicous and open yours you get a sticker imo.

That's also why you need to use a TSA lock in case you lock your bag, so they can open it without using a wire cutter.

 

The want to install xray scanners at the baggage drop tho and xray again everything, thats the new thing they reported about, but from what i saw at least at DMK those arent installed yet, 2 weeks ago i came from mauritius to swampy there also seemed to be nothing new installed.

 

The xray directly at luggage belt is to detect smuggled goods i suppose but should not effect anyone just carrying his usual stuff, i would guess they will get rid of the scanners on exit after the belt scanners are installed

[Wiggy]

4 minutes ago, wombat said:

the British interpretation of Asian ?

Sorry, you've lost me. I'm not sure what the British interpretation of Asian is.

[Kerryd]

It's hit or miss.

When I arrived recently, I had a large, medium and small suitcase (matched set). As I headed towards the exit, probably 2 dozen people went through ahead of me and none were stopped.

I thought I was home free when suddenly one of the Customs guys flags me over and tells me to put one of my bags on the scanner. Didn't seem to care which one so I put the medium bag on it. The person running the scanner barely glanced at it and I was able to grab the bag and head out. Maybe 1 minute in total from putting the bag on the scanner until I was heading for the exit again.

 

As I headed out, there was maybe a dozen people behind me and none of them were checked. Not sure if they were doing a "every 25th person" or a "1 person every 5 minutes" quota type of system as they didn't really seem to be too concerned about the process.

(This was at Suvarnabhumi.)

Got to hand it to the guys at the Vancouver airport though. I packed a bunch of things from home to bring back with me, including 4 brand new Leatherman Supertools and a Balisong folding knife I'd had for decades.

While waiting for my flight (to Manila, then onwards to Bangkok) to start boarding, 3 RCMP came to the boarding gate and then my name was called out. I went over to see what the deal was and it turned out that someone had seen the Balisong in one of my suitcases during a screening before the bags were loaded.
(How they managed to figure out what it was when it was folded up and stuffed in with a bunch of other things I'll never know.)
I explained to the cops that I'd bought it on a trip to Thailand something like 20 years ago that I was heading back to Thailand where you can buy those things on every street corner (well, almost - in some parts of Pattaya at least). They said they'd have to confiscate the knife but they wouldn't charge me.

Of course, when I finally get home and go through my bags, turns out the 4 perfectly legal Leatherman Supertools were missing. I'm guessing that was what was seen on the scanner and when they searched the bag they found the Balisong and used that as the excuse for opening the bags.
Of course, if they had of charged me, I would have found out about the missing Supertools while I was still in Vancouver and then they would have been the ones in serious trouble.

Of course they screen all luggage after check-in when you are departing.
I recall it was a major news story when Thailand bought some new explosive detectors (not the little handheld pieces of fake junk but an actual hi-tech system used to scan luggage for traces of explosive before the luggage goes onto the plane). 
That's probably why Customs (on arrival) isn't too concerned with checking people as they know the bags have already been scanned at least once before arriving in Thailand and if there was anything illegal it would have probably been identified before the person ever got onto the plane.

[rbmcn]

Returned thru Swampy yesterday (Monday) and breezed thru the X-ray team like greased lightning- all three staffers were preoccupied with themselves. About 30 folks ahead of us also weren't stopped. FYI????

[ESCAPIS]

Arrived  from KL at Suvarnaphumi last Sun. No x-ray.

but the custom guy was looking into people’ face...

[paddyfield7]

I recently arrived at CNX from Europe via SIN, Silkair, 10:35 a.m.. I had 4 suitcases full of Swiss cheese, chocolate, dry meat etc., but nothing restricted to my knowledge. The superviser ordered all 4 suitcases to be scanned, but I claimed I just had a lumbago, and doctors did not allow me to lift more than 5 kilos. The supervisor had no other choice but to put all suitcases on the belt himself, and back to my trolley after scanning. My wife was waiting outside, I pushed the trolley towards her and told her to move on to the car quickly. Then I returned to the supervisor and told him that the customs checks might be more efficient if the guy behind the screen was not sleeping deeply.....

[gk10002000]

I arrived 3 weeks ago but only had a carry on.   Nothing asked, nothing searched

[BestB]

Are you asking for arrivals or departures?

[treetops]

Recent reports I'm aware of (and discussed on here) mentioned that new X Ray equipment was being installed with the ability to screen all incoming hold bags.  Due to the volume of these, it was expected that this would be done prior to bags coming up at each baggage carousel, and the amount of X Ray machines they claimed to be installing matched exactly with the amount of baggage carousels at  international arrivals.  They claimed that these would be operational before the end of the year.

 

I think the answer to the OP is we won't know even if they do X Ray everything.  Even once the machines are confirmed as in place and operational we still won't know, as they may not be manned full time.

 

[BestB]

16 minutes ago, paddyfield7 said:

I recently arrived at CNX from Europe via SIN, Silkair, 10:35 a.m.. I had 4 suitcases full of Swiss cheese, chocolate, dry meat etc., but nothing restricted to my knowledge. The superviser ordered all 4 suitcases to be scanned, but I claimed I just had a lumbago, and doctors did not allow me to lift more than 5 kilos. The supervisor had no other choice but to put all suitcases on the belt himself, and back to my trolley after scanning. My wife was waiting outside, I pushed the trolley towards her and told her to move on to the car quickly. Then I returned to the supervisor and told him that the customs checks might be more efficient if the guy behind the screen was not sleeping deeply.....

Wow, nice fiction and lovely vivid imagination . But for a laugh do tell what “supervisor” said when you told him you had lumbago ?

 

and do tell how you got back in to tell supervisor to be more efficient ?

 

????????????

[emptypockets]

They only seem to screen people with large boxes or a lot of luggage.

Having said that don't think that once you clear customs you are necessarily 'free'. When the wife and I returned from Oz last Christmas I went outside for a smoke. We had four suitcases with us. My wife hates me smoking with a passion. So I'm standing there having a smoke with her about 20 meters away. I'm trying to tell her to go back inside the terminal and wait for me using hand signals. Must have looked a bit strange to any onlookers, which may have led to what I will say next.

Anyway after I've finished my smoke I also go back inside with the intention of going downstairs to get a taxi. As soon as I caught up with the Mrs, one guy and three ladies (customs) approached us and asked us to open the bags. No problem we had nothing dodgy, just the usual vitamins,makeup stuff, chocolates and clothes for the rellies as presents. I asked the guy what they were looking for and he answered cigarettes. I told them all how much a packet of smokes cost in Oz and anyone would have to be pretty silly to smuggle them into Thailand. All had a good laugh and off they went.

So to recap - don't think you are done and dusted simply by passing through customs as they may decide to give you the once over even in the arrivals hall.

 

 

[Salerno]

2 hours ago, paddyfield7 said:

Then I returned to the supervisor and told him that the customs checks might be more efficient if the guy behind the screen was not sleeping deeply.....

Of course you did  

[Pedrogaz]

I always get X-rayed

[gamesgplayemail]

26 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I always get X-rayed

ME too, when I go to hospital for checkup

 

????

 

 

[CliffH]

Don't make eye contact with customs people.  I used to be a frequent flyer, but very rarely got stopped.

[Ireland32]

They are supposed to be Xraying all bags starting in November 

[UPDEHSOI]

16 hours ago, brucegoniners said:

Thanks. Nothing dodgy, just some supplements they may want to tax.

I have been bringing sups in and out of Bkk (both airports) for about 27 years. On the average I bring in about 26 bottles ( and pkts), usually in my carry on. Have yet to have a problem with bringing in supplements. HOWEVER, my sister sent me a container of barley grass....through the mail. And of course she stated the "real" price on the mailing slip. I had to pay 100% duty, or dump the barley grass, so I paid the fifty bucks. On another note, I was NOT allowed to board the plane at Don Muang going to Nom Pen because I had a small bottle of clarkia in my carry on. Clarkia is a mixture of worm wood, black walnut and ground cloves. The Immigration lady didn't know what it was. So....dump it or no plane ride. I gave her the bottle, and told her, sweetly and with a nice smile what she could do with it. ( under my breath, of course ) By the way, some time back you were not allowed to bring iodine into Thailand, and you could not buy it there. People use it to make illegal drugs. Dunno if this policy has changed or not.

[jastheace]

15 hours ago, wombat said:

the British interpretation of Asian ?

someone from asia ? pls feel free to correct me...

[cornishcarlos]

I arrived at Swampy last Friday.. Had a new coffee machine with me and they were scanning quite a few people. I got scanned too but nothing was said about the machine and I was away again within a minute !!

[statman78]

I arrived from the US via Hong Kong on August 2.  I had 2 big checked bags plus a backpack.  My bags did not get x-rayed.  Several times in the past I did but had no problems even though I had 3-4 bottles of wine.  When I went through on the 2nd there were not very many people.  There was a guy and a girl running the x-ray machine but they were too busy talking to even notice me.