Was a bullet planted in his luggage? American father trapped for months in Thailand

[richard_smith237]

Even if this guy did have a single bullet in his bag, this appears to be a situation where intelligent discretion was kneecapped by an extreme case of sanctimonious enforcement combined with faux outrage.

 

 

[Emdog]

What can you do with one bullet? no gun, right? Is he going to toss it into the campfire like in so many movies & then grab surprised banditios and shoot them all? One bullet. Nuts

[lucjoker]

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Who's fingerprints were on the bullet? Should be pretty easy to find out. No thousands of dollars needed for this too.

probably the father and son went to a shooting range,

the boy took a bullet as souvernir............bingo.

 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, Xonax said:

He should be thankful, that the bullet was found in Thailand and not in America, where Lawyer fees are much less affordable.

And should be thankful it wasn't London where someone was sentenced to nine months in prison for the same thing (and he was on an arriving flight).

[josephbloggs]

20 minutes ago, Emdog said:

What can you do with one bullet? no gun, right? Is he going to toss it into the campfire like in so many movies & then grab surprised banditios and shoot them all? One bullet. Nuts

Come on, do you really expect they should be so lax at airport security?  Oh it's just a bullet, you have no gun, off you go!!

Obviously this was not this guy's intent but suppose one guy smuggles a bullet on board, another one or two different components of a gun, reassemble onboard and suddenly your bullet is not so harmless.

That's why we have strict airport security laws.

[Traubert]

1 hour ago, Thian said:

Why is the american embassy not helping him?

Presumably because they're as much use as any other embassy.

[nervona81732]

An they wonder why no one wants to come here any more. Not the LOS, the LOS ( land of scams ).

[josephbloggs]

12 minutes ago, nervona81732 said:

An they wonder why no one wants to come here any more. Not the LOS, the LOS ( land of scams ).

Ah a perfectly typical TVF comment.

 

Explain the scam where nobody asks for money to make the problem go away and instead you move through the legal system.  What kind of a scam is that?  

[1duckyboy]

I hope this story and others like it get picked up by the foreign press. Once the same scam in the Philippines was publicized internationally, the Philippine authorities put a swift end to it because tourists numbers were going down.

[dluek]

Why do they think he'll be quarantined? I've not yet heard of the US quarantining arriving passengers from Thailand unless they show symptoms upon arrival. 

[milesinnz]

Lets hope this makes mainstream western media, and drives away more and more and more visitors to Thailand.... either as an expat or as someone grieved about their time in Thailand, it's a win win.. if the economy crumbles enough, it will drive Thailand into - well, it must be soon time for a pile of civil unrest... I have modified the amount of time and money I spend in Thailand..

[SupermarineS6B]

Having once had a taste of immigration's insanity i'm scared every time i come into Thailand now, be it by air or land as you just don't know what these lot are going to do. The truth is once somethings "Laid" on you you have no other option than to bow down to the services of a higher grade of criminal than even immigration, namely a Thai lawyer, then the journey to the slaughter house begins......  I feel sorry for this man, whether the round was laid on him or whether he was just dumb enough to try and get this through an airport, which i doubt....... I'm getting that nasty feeling that there's going to be a lot more money spinning scams like this one just to make up the pot......Thailand's become a scary place now........

[nausea]

Fine and let him go, why this big thing over a guy with a bullet in his luggage, obviously not a terrorist. Jesus Christ, use some common sense. You want Western tourists to come here or not?

[ChrisY1]

5 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

Ahh, yes, this old scam.

 

 

Get done for you and your family's life savings, and then some.

 

Khup Khon khraaaaaap mistah. 

Yep.....been around for a long time....comes up now and again when the cops see a likely target...

[Dan dan]

This scam was always going on at manila airport until they tried to do it to a priest from the U.S.He put it on social media and there were so many people that came forward and said it happened to them aswel.when Deterta (Philipines president) found out he sacked the entire airport staff and put the video on social media of them all crying and pleading for there jobs back.scum people who do this

[IAMHERE]

5 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

No surprise they found a bullet in a bag from a citizen where the N.R.A virus is spreading.

So, he is guilty then? Every American would be judged guilty? 

[Vigilante]

Years back, the 'bullet-in-the-luggage' was a popular extortion scam at Manila airport.

[RICO86]

Happens all the time at the airport in Manila oldie but goodie for the backhanders ????????

[chilli42]

Well they could check the fingerprints.  They might want recall the dufus General that brought a fully loaded pistol into Japan a couple of years ago ... with limited consequences ... so lighten the F#@& up on this guy, its one bullet.  I don't think the Thais planted it ... why this guy ... better to hook themselves a whale.  What might have happened is that he (or a friend) used the bag at the range or on a hunting trip and the bullet fell out of the box getting stuck in a less than obvious pace.  

[Suddenplans]

This scam was recently running at Manila airport.

[WalkingOrders]

I dont know about this story but it aint the first time this has happened:

https://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/04/aviation/philippines-airport-bullet-bag-scam-tanim-bala/index.html

[smudger1951]

At what point would someone plant a bullet in your checked luggage ? Between the check-in desk and the scanner on the way to the flight. 

[P100]

This is an old topic for me. Some years ago the airport staff at Manila Airport did this kind of scam with hand luggage, they dropped a single bullet into the hand bag when passing thru the x-ray. Then it was time for the big pay to fix the problem... Now in Thailand ???

[tomauasia]

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

 

Suspect the Thai "authorities" will milk this family dry.

 

 

Yep Thai scam 

[P100]

2 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Ah a perfectly typical TVF comment.

 

Explain the scam where nobody asks for money to make the problem go away and instead you move through the legal system.  What kind of a scam is that?  

I would believe someone did offer expensive help... and if not, well, the guy might have stepped on the feet of somebody who found this way to say thank you...

 

The single bullet in the bag is a well known scam at Manila Airport NAIA... where you need to pay the officer to help

[Ireland32]

7 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/04/aviation/philippines-airport-bullet-bag-scam-tanim-bala/index.html

I thought this was a Phil’s Scam , moving like a Virus

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

1 hour ago, Vigilante said:

Years back, the 'bullet-in-the-luggage' was a popular extortion scam at Manila airport.

the manila scam was based on demanding cash from the tourist right on the spot,

if the case goes to court or higher authority the crooks cant get the reward.

 

cases like this happan sometimes, the most common reason is that the person forgot

a bullet in his bag after going to a shooting range. the less common reason is that

someone who did not like him planted the bullet in his bag as a revenge.

 

the worrying part in this story is that he got stucked in thailand for months, just

trying to clear the case. i believe this to be true as i know few stories like that, of

farang who got involved in a legal case in thailand, and had to spend few months

without being able to leave the country.

 

in one case, a factory owner took to court one of his workers, also a farang, accusing

him of stealing large amounts from the company. but he was just the owner and did not

reside in thailand. when he wanted to leave thailand, he learned that he can't do that

until the court case is over. he had to stay in thailand for few more months just

waiting for the court's final decision, losing much more than what was stolen from him.

[aspenbkk]

7 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Makes me think he was set up because he was black, just saying, you know how immigration don't like blacks apart from farangs, just saying, yes I know, paranoia lurkes.

I had a friend in forces came from Iraq to bkk and had a bullet in his bag on a middle east flight he noticed when he arrived in pattaya it was there clearing his bag out. I asked him did you not check he said no and how did the airlines or airport not see it then Security yeh right. 

[Tounge Thaied]

My non-evidence based intuition tells me... this bullet, like the fire chief before him, was planted. It was planted because of the current attitude in Thailand against specifically the "Farang". And a black Farang, I could see being the more xenophobic target. Just how I see it, my opinion. The growing, expanding Xenophobia within Thai government circles is palpable. Take this opinion for what it's worth to you. 

[Redline]

What’s he going to do with a bullet?  Like here aren’t hundreds of millions of the in the USA ????