Arrested brits face long wait

[taxexile]

THAILAND ACCUSED FACE LONG WAIT

30 September 2003

FOUR men from Douglas and Onchan arrested in Thailand more than two weeks ago face a wait before their fate is decided.

Nicholas Walker, Justin Ringham, Paul Killey and Aaron Hay, all in their early 20s, ran into trouble after allegedly being duped into buying bogus visas through an advert.

The four were arrested over the weekend of September 13 and 14 and held for three days in a Thai jail after being stopped by immigration authorities while trying to leave Thailand for Australia.

They appeared before a Thai court on Friday.

Mr Walker's uncle, Auban Walker, who has been coordinating the efforts to help his nephew and friends, spoke to them following the hearing.

'They have got an adjournment for another 12 days when there might be a hearing,' he said.

Mr Walker said he didn't know if a definite hearing date had been set.

The four were among 15 Britons and travellers from other nations caught out by the alleged fraud that week.

On Saturday, Daily Telegraph reported two more Britons were among six foreign tourists arrested at a border checkpoint in Thailand for having fake immigration stamps in their passports.

The paper claims this brings the number of Britons charged with visa offences in the country in the past three weeks to 21.

It says two weeks ago police arrested a tour operator after two Britons and a Dutch national were held at Bangkok airport for travelling on fake stamps from the agency.

Mr Walker said the four, who were travelling on a round-the-world ticket, were 'naïve' to reply to an advert for visas.

They spent three nights in jail because they were arrested at a weekend when the embassy was closed.

Mr Walker collected the money to bail them and they are now staying in a hotel but are unable to leave the country until their case has been heard.

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[dr_Pat_Pong]

Was the British Embassy a help to the guys ? A real help that is !

[taxexile]

just lifted this from a posting on ajarn.com

someone asked the british embassy for advice and received this e-mail in reply.

The following is the email I have just received from the British Embassy....

Dear Sir/Madam,

The best advice I can offer you is to apply for a new passport at this Embassy as soon as possible.  We will impound your current passport and issue you with an explanatory letter for immigration.  You will then have to deal with Thai Immigration yourself.  They will check your record to see your last legal entry into Thailand and you will be expected to pay any visa overstay.  It is likely that you will be deported following this however and you risk a lifetime blacklisting for immigration purposes.  If you cannot pay your overstay fine, you will be taken to the immigration Court and fined, placed in the Immigration Detention Centre until your fine is cleared (at a rate of 200 baht per day).  We will then help arrange your deportation.

hmmmmm!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The milk of human kindness huh ?                

[JonnieB]

long live extra-territoriality...opps, all people of a leftest pursuasion  (seems like most of the youngish posters on this board) supported quaint notions like the end of colonalism and of the "unequal" treaties between the West and the rest of the world.

sure bet some of these folks would welcome such a treaty now  :laugh:

[dropout]

JonnieB

You are an imbecile for equating a position against colonialism, racism and third world dictatorships with individuals detained for getting dodgy stamps.

[KenUdon]

he milk of human kindness huh ?

The British Embassy could do with reading this forum, to find out just how worried THEIR subjects are.......but they are not known for their caring attitude!