Elderly Swiss man busted with gun at Phuket Airport

[Woke to Sounds of Horking]

4 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I was sitting at the Departure Gate reading a book when 3 cops (RCMP) showed up looking for me.

They can be the biggest jerks on the planet - next to border control. RIP to the poor Polish guy who got tasered to death by "Canada's Finest" at Vancouver airport back in the day.

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

You just have to wonder what this guy was thinking take a gun, worldwide carrying a weapon on a plane requires special permission and permits even if it's checked in, so I guess this guy was just being a little cavalier, or he just has very limited survival skills. 

 

Here's my story: I worked for a long time for an international management consulting company in the Bkk office. We won a big contract with a Thai ministry which needed a very detailed economic analysis. At that time we had no staff with the skill / experience in Asia, especially in the Oil and Gas industry.

 

I contacted the company HO in the US to see if they had a suitable consultant. They did and the guy was on a flight to BKK within 36 hrs. He initially sent me an email confirmation that he could do the work and he would arrive on xx/xx/xxxx.  I responded asking for a flight number / arrival time and gave him the name/address of the 5 star hotel we had booked for him but no response. I sent a second email, again no response.

 

We arranged a meeting for 10:00 am the morning after his expected arrival so he could meet the client.

 

At 08:00 On the moam one of the local senior consultants ran into my office telling me 'Mr. has arrived, he's near my desk and he has slammed a gun don on the desk'.

 

I went quickly, introduced myself which he totally / rudely ignored, then asked if his hotel was OK. No reply.

 

I asked 'did you carry this handgun with you from the US'. He responded 'NO the <deleted> at xxx airport in xxx xxxx confiscated his handgun which he wanted to carry in his cabin bag'.

 

I asked 'so where did you get this handgun.' By this time he's getting very frustrated with the conversation and answered 'I asked the bell boy at the hotel where i can buy a handgun and I showed the bell boy a photo of a handgun'.

 

Bell boy responded 'Chatujuck market' and wrote the address in Thai.

 

By this time our local GM had joined the conversation (local GM is Thai, studied high school, bachelor and masters and Ph,D, in the US). GM tells new arrival 'I cannot allow you to have guns in the office and this will go now into the safe in my room, and I cannot allow you to take this to the clients office'. Further, client ill be very angry at foreigners or anybody trying to bring firearms onto their premises. 

 

US guy gets heated and insists 'you can't tell me what to do and I refuse to walk around any city without a sidearm.

 

Our Thai GM calls the client and explains and asks for time to find another economics analysis consultant. CEO of the client organization is Thai and well familiar with US and firearms, and he agrees to wait. 

 

Our CEO tells admin manager to urgently get 2 security guards ready to take the US guy to the airport and his return flight is changed to the next flight, next day.

 

Our CEO refuses to remove the handgun from his safe. Police (Lumpini) are informed and agree to send an officer to take the firearm. They arrive 30 minutes later and take the item and give a receipt.

 

Our own company seniors in the US are angry because their consultant not allowed to carry a firearm, angry / annoyed because the Thailand office not flexible. 

 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, BKKBike09 said:

17 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

My Brother In Law was caught with 3 guns in his car (licensed but outside of the permissible area of use).

- 10,000 baht fine. 
- Monthly check in with local Police.

Out of curiosity when was that? I'm guessing not recently.

 

And by 'licensed but outside of the permissible area' do you mean he had a Por 12 carry permit for Province X but was stopped in Province Y? I've not heard of anyone having a Por 12 for more than one weapon, and since the Paragon shooting then (officially) there's been a moratorium on issuing them.

 

This was about 10 years ago I'd guess...  I have no real idea of what licence he carried, Father in Law has the same Licence (though I don't think he still carries).

 

Brother in Law had 3 gun ( Pistok, a Glock I think , 6x Pump Action Shot Gun and a 22 Rifle )...   we went to the range a few times and had fun - the pump action shot gun was fun... I liked the 22, it made hitting a 50pence piece at 50meters easy (wind protected range).

 

If I'm not mistaken, he was licensed to have a guns on his possessions (in his car) between the family home, their factory, and the Bank and shooting range.... he was caught with the Gun in the boot of has car by the Valet Parking attendant at a night club (Bro inlaw had opened the boot, to change his shoes, valet saw the guns, and then called the police - when Bro-Inlaw excited the night club and picked up his car at the Valet the Police were there waiting - it took a bit of hassle to deal with but the reasilied he was just being a slack-unsafe-idiot rather than a nutter...    I don't even think it went to court - he just had to pay a 10,000 baht fine at the station and report at the station every month for a year, after 6 visits they said forget about it !!!!)... 

 

He was just very slack and left the guns in boot of his car and got caught out.

 

 

In this case - I think the Swiss fella, at 82 years old may simply been extremely slack and forgetful and was unaware that gun was in his bag....  that seems the most likely explanation to me, because it takes an extreme nutter to think they can get a gun through an airport and no-one is that insane.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, Slocum said:

Irrelevant..He is caught with a gun...

 

Not really...  because... whether he was caught upon entering Thailand or departing Thailand has relevance, also whether the gun was in his hand carry or check in baggage is also relevant. 

 

Thus, intention can be assumed, or a really really dumb mistake...  

 

- If departing thailand, that would imply the gun is illegal - how does a swiss man get a gun in Thailand, thus - the penalites may be more severe.

 

- if arriving in Thailand, the gun could be licensed in Switzerland, and thus a truly dumb mistaken, perhaps explained by the forgetfulness of age (82 years old), might mean any penalty is less severe taking this possibility into account.

 

Thus - the where and how are quite relevant. 

[Yagoda]

the Dudes Swiss, he will get away with it.

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, watchcat said:

I don't call that a gun.

 

Why ?....   have you redefined the definition of a weapon that uses the force of rapidly expanding gases, typically produced by the combustion of gunpowder or another propellant, to launch a projectile at high velocity.

 

 

Or, did you mean - that you are so impressively tough anything 'smaller than a Dessert Eagle is not a not a gun'....    

- You sleep with a pillow under your gun.

- You dont actually need a gun, the gun needs you.

- You don't actually need a gun, you just stare down the target until it surrenders.

- You don’t shoot bullets, you fire rounds of wisdom.

- You once fired a warning shot... it ended two world wars.

- You don't need to reload, you just tell the gun to keep going.

[Charlest1971]

 

7 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

You have to look at what are most likely the original Thai sources for these stories before thay are put through the AI blender to understand what happened.

Can you please apply for a job at Aseannow? At last, we will get decent, detailed stories! 😂💪👏🏻

[Liverpool Lou]

20 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I wonder if it was in his carry on, luggage or checked in luggage. 

He was at the departure gate, so, presumably, in his carry on.

[Liverpool Lou]

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Was he caught with the gun in his baggage leaving or arriving ?

Departing.

[GammaGlobulin]

4 hours ago, Gandtee said:

It would seem that many comments are more about the type of gun in question. What is it with people that have such an interest in firearms? I'm surprised at Gamma. I thought he was more of a 'Make peace, not war' person. The best comment was 'The Swiss is on a roll.'

 

I can appreciate a fine weapon, of any kind.

 

This does not mean I would be so foolish as to own a pistol.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

20 hours ago, steven100 said:

 every damn kid here has a gun under his motorbike seat for crying out aloud.  

Cobblers.

[BKKBike09]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

This was about 10 years ago I'd guess...  I have no real idea of what licence he carried, Father in Law has the same Licence (though I don't think he still carries).

 

Brother in Law had 3 gun ( Pistok, a Glock I think , 6x Pump Action Shot Gun and a 22 Rifle )...   we went to the range a few times and had fun - the pump action shot gun was fun... I liked the 22, it made hitting a 50pence piece at 50meters easy (wind protected range).

 

If I'm not mistaken, he was licensed to have a guns on his possessions (in his car) between the family home, their factory, and the Bank and shooting range.... he was caught with the Gun in the boot of has car by the Valet Parking attendant at a night club (Bro inlaw had opened the boot, to change his shoes, valet saw the guns, and then called the police - when Bro-Inlaw excited the night club and picked up his car at the Valet the Police were there waiting - it took a bit of hassle to deal with but the reasilied he was just being a slack-unsafe-idiot rather than a nutter...    I don't even think it went to court - he just had to pay a 10,000 baht fine at the station and report at the station every month for a year, after 6 visits they said forget about it !!!!)... 

 

He was just very slack and left the guns in boot of his car and got caught out.

 

 

In this case - I think the Swiss fella, at 82 years old may simply been extremely slack and forgetful and was unaware that gun was in his bag....  that seems the most likely explanation to me, because it takes an extreme nutter to think they can get a gun through an airport and no-one is that insane.

 

 

Thanks - wouldn't get away with that (driving around with guns in car boot if not specifically going to / from a range) nowadays.

 

To keep on topic: even if this Swiss dude had a permit to own a gun - for all we know (unlikely though it is)  he may have been living here 20 years and bought it legally, in his name, many years ago, when that was still possible for some categories of foreign resident - he would not be permitted to take it to an airport just chucked in his baggage. 

 

If you do want to fly here with a legally held gun (I only know as applies to domestic) it needs to be checked through airport security, by the owner, with a copy of the license, for carriage in the hold. Most airlines also have a limit as to how many guns they'll accept on any given flight (usually 5). 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

19 hours ago, steven100 said:

I just wanted to point out there are approx 8 million bike kids and most have a gun under the seat.

I just wanted to point out that your claim is boIIocks.

[Toby1947]

Wyatt Earp's kid brother 🤣😂

[Homburg]

5 hours ago, Cereal said:

Being as the gun was seen in an x-ray, I assume it was in his carry on.

Checked in baggage is also subject to x-ray examination.

[Yagoda]

5 hours ago, black tabby12345 said:

What a coincidence.

 82 YO foreigner caught at Gate 81; just a difference of 1.

 

This is what they found: Astra(made in Spain), model A25 6.35mm(.25Caliber) .

6.35mm round is less powerful than .22 Long Rifle:

 

If you are thinking about a self-defense gun, .22 is better than .25.

.25(6.35mm) round is said be so weak that it cannot even break through the squirrel spine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you think a .25 is weak, let me shoot you in the bridge of the nose with it.

 

It worked fine for Vasily Blokhin at Kaytyn.

[Cereal]

6 hours ago, Woke to Sounds of Horking said:

They can be the biggest jerks on the planet - next to border control. RIP to the poor Polish guy who got tasered to death by "Canada's Finest" at Vancouver airport back in the day.

The RCMP and Immigration at YVR are the biggest <deleted> that have ever lived. I also remember the Polish guy's murder. As an aside, I was a flight attendant with Air Canada, I have no idea how many times I have been through YVR. 

[Cereal]

3 hours ago, Homburg said:

Checked in baggage is also subject to x-ray examination.

Yes, but after it gets checked in down in the belly of the airport before it gets loaded on the plane. The article sounded like it was scanned with the passenger when he went through.

[geisha]

On 10/8/2024 at 12:37 PM, Tropicalevo said:

Confusing - lacking a bit of detail.

And why is his T shirt fuzzed out?

Because it looks like he’s bought the gun at 7/11 .

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

23 hours ago, steven100 said:

I just wanted to point out there are approx 8 million bike kids and most have a gun under the seat.

I just wanted to point out that your claim is boIIocks.

 

I would argue that the claim is not entirely unrealistic, especially when considering the stories frequently reported in the Thai media.

 

Though anecdotal, a case in point involves my maid's 14-year-old son, who attends a technical college, an institution type notorious for violent clashes with students from rival schools.

 

He’s been involved in numerous altercations and even lost a friend to such violence. Worryingly, many of these students reportedly carry weapons, including improvised 'pen guns' and other concealed firearms (not first hand info - but info from people people of that demographic - i.e. maid and also police friends who tell me the same - lots of these kids carrying guns).

 

With 22 million registered motorcycles in Thailand, it’s hardly a stretch to suggest that a significant number of riders might be armed, possibly hiding guns under their seats or elsewhere. While the figure of 8 million armed individuals might be an exaggeration, it raises an important question...

 

....what would be a more reasonable estimate? Thousands? Tens of thousands? millions?

Although the 8 million figure may be inflated, it does effectively highlight the point that Steven100 was trying to convey, he presence of weapons in everyday life is far from trivial.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

On 10/8/2024 at 5:16 PM, brianthainess said:

I wonder if it was in his carry on, luggage or checked in luggage. 

He was at the departure gate, so, presumably, in his carry on.

 

This is what threw me...      

 

Do they put the hand luggage through an x-ray machine next to the boarding gate now ???

 

I thought everyone put their hand-luggage through the x-ray machine far earlier than that, just after check-in and before entering the departure lounge.

 

Thus - I'm wondering if his checked in baggage was x-rayed and flagged (after auto scanning the baggage tag) as belonging to this passenger - he was picked up at gate 81.

 

 

[Zack61]

14 hours ago, jippytum said:

You have to be really stupid attempting to board an aircraft and passing security checks with a gun. 

Which leads me to believe he might be a bit touched in the head. Anyone in their right mind would have known they wouldn’t have been able to get away with it. 

[Task Master]

For a neutral country, the Swiss sure find their way into a lot of things.

[spidermike007]

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Here's my story: I worked for a long time for an international management consulting company in the Bkk office. We won a big contract with a Thai ministry which needed a very detailed economic analysis. At that time we had no staff with the skill / experience in Asia, especially in the Oil and Gas industry.

 

I contacted the company HO in the US to see if they had a suitable consultant. They did and the guy was on a flight to BKK within 36 hrs. He initially sent me an email confirmation that he could do the work and he would arrive on xx/xx/xxxx.  I responded asking for a flight number / arrival time and gave him the name/address of the 5 star hotel we had booked for him but no response. I sent a second email, again no response.

 

We arranged a meeting for 10:00 am the morning after his expected arrival so he could meet the client.

 

At 08:00 On the moam one of the local senior consultants ran into my office telling me 'Mr. has arrived, he's near my desk and he has slammed a gun don on the desk'.

 

I went quickly, introduced myself which he totally / rudely ignored, then asked if his hotel was OK. No reply.

 

I asked 'did you carry this handgun with you from the US'. He responded 'NO the <deleted> at xxx airport in xxx xxxx confiscated his handgun which he wanted to carry in his cabin bag'.

 

I asked 'so where did you get this handgun.' By this time he's getting very frustrated with the conversation and answered 'I asked the bell boy at the hotel where i can buy a handgun and I showed the bell boy a photo of a handgun'.

 

Bell boy responded 'Chatujuck market' and wrote the address in Thai.

 

By this time our local GM had joined the conversation (local GM is Thai, studied high school, bachelor and masters and Ph,D, in the US). GM tells new arrival 'I cannot allow you to have guns in the office and this will go now into the safe in my room, and I cannot allow you to take this to the clients office'. Further, client ill be very angry at foreigners or anybody trying to bring firearms onto their premises. 

 

US guy gets heated and insists 'you can't tell me what to do and I refuse to walk around any city without a sidearm.

 

Our Thai GM calls the client and explains and asks for time to find another economics analysis consultant. CEO of the client organization is Thai and well familiar with US and firearms, and he agrees to wait. 

 

Our CEO tells admin manager to urgently get 2 security guards ready to take the US guy to the airport and his return flight is changed to the next flight, next day.

 

Our CEO refuses to remove the handgun from his safe. Police (Lumpini) are informed and agree to send an officer to take the firearm. They arrive 30 minutes later and take the item and give a receipt.

 

Our own company seniors in the US are angry because their consultant not allowed to carry a firearm, angry / annoyed because the Thailand office not flexible. 

 

An utterly bizarre story. People can be so unreasonable. What can one say? 

[rickudon]

I once caused an incident at Heathrow airport. My hand luggage was scanned (going to departure) and they kept looking and looking. I moved so i could see their xray screen, and sure enough, looked like a handgun. Out of the corner of my eyes i saw doors open behind and men coming out.... i was asked to open the bag. 2 very large men were about 2 metres behind me.

 

In the bag, was my collapsible umbrella and a metal spectacle case at a 45 degree angle to it. 

 

They were rather disappointed.

[degrub]

We got a laugh in Chennai airport security once when the bag X-ray showed my electric tooth brush. They thought it was a bomb. They ransacked my bag until they found the handle with the batteries inside. Had them turn it on and watched as the big security guy jumped when it vibrated. Fortunately, he thought it was funny and we all got a laugh. 

[black tabby12345]

10 hours ago, Yagoda said:

If you think a .25 is weak, let me shoot you in the bridge of the nose with it.

 

It worked fine for Vasily Blokhin at Kaytyn.

 

I have heard of the case of the bar fight(a tale from USA back in late 1970s).

One drunk man felt horrible headache next morning.

So he went to the hospital.

Then the doctor was stunned to find out a few rounds of .25 impacted and stopped on the skull of that patient(still alive and able to reach the medical institution by himself).

I know that the effect of the bullet may vary depending on the angle when it hit object.

If it goes at the right angle, it can penetrate the bone. 

But from the shallow angle, it cannot always do the same.

I am certainly not dumb enough to shoot myself(or anyone else) to evaluate the effect of the bullets.

And moreover, in Thailand, a foreigners cannot own a gun except for the exceptional circumstances.

I am not a novice to firearms.

I used to own and shoot guns lawfully before my  settlement  here.

 

 

[Dogmatix]

On 10/9/2024 at 2:14 PM, BKKBike09 said:

 

Thanks - wouldn't get away with that (driving around with guns in car boot if not specifically going to / from a range) nowadays.

 

To keep on topic: even if this Swiss dude had a permit to own a gun - for all we know (unlikely though it is)  he may have been living here 20 years and bought it legally, in his name, many years ago, when that was still possible for some categories of foreign resident - he would not be permitted to take it to an airport just chucked in his baggage. 

 

If you do want to fly here with a legally held gun (I only know as applies to domestic) it needs to be checked through airport security, by the owner, with a copy of the license, for carriage in the hold. Most airlines also have a limit as to how many guns they'll accept on any given flight (usually 5). 

 

 

 

It's possible.  I think the Astra 5.35 25A went out of production in the late 60s.  So perhaps he bought it here new and has had it ever since.  But I couldn't see a Thai serial number on it and the writing on the slide is wrong for the original Spanish made Astras.  Might even be a blank gun.  

 

[Dogmatix]

15 hours ago, black tabby12345 said:

 

I have heard of the case of the bar fight(a tale from USA back in late 1970s).

One drunk man felt horrible headache next morning.

So he went to the hospital.

Then the doctor was stunned to find out a few rounds of .25 impacted and stopped on the skull of that patient(still alive and able to reach the medical institution by himself).

I know that the effect of the bullet may vary depending on the angle when it hit object.

If it goes at the right angle, it can penetrate the bone. 

But from the shallow angle, it cannot always do the same.

I am certainly not dumb enough to shoot myself(or anyone else) to evaluate the effect of the bullets.

And moreover, in Thailand, a foreigners cannot own a gun except for the exceptional circumstances.

I am not a novice to firearms.

I used to own and shoot guns lawfully before my  settlement  here.

 

The Firearms Act doesn't say you have to be Thai and, until only 3 or 4 years ago, it was quite easy for foreigners living in Bangkok to get permits for guns, if they had  PR or at least a WP.  As a PR I got 5 going way back without any difficult questions asked. There are still many foreigners with legally owned guns, quite apart from the embassy guards and DEA and other foreign agency types on secondment. It all got very difficult after  the Paragon incident, even thought that was nothing to do with legally owned guns.  Now it is virtually impossible for anyone with anything about them that the racists in the gun licensing office consider foreign.  Thai includes Thai look krung and naturalised Thais.   

[black tabby12345]

9 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

 

The Firearms Act doesn't say you have to be Thai and, until only 3 or 4 years ago, it was quite easy for foreigners living in Bangkok to get permits for guns, if they had  PR or at least a WP.  As a PR I got 5 going way back without any difficult questions asked. There are still many foreigners with legally owned guns, quite apart from the embassy guards and DEA and other foreign agency types on secondment. It all got very difficult after  the Paragon incident, even thought that was nothing to do with legally owned guns.  Now it is virtually impossible for anyone with anything about them that the racists in the gun licensing office consider foreign.  Thai includes Thai look krung and naturalised Thais.   

 

Thanks for your input regarding the  historic change of Gun Laws in Thailand.

Is it true that it was 1970s when Thai govt started to restrict foreigners' gun ownership here?

That's something I read back in late 1970s.