Swede With Heart Disease Thrown In Thai Prison: Overstay In Paradise

[Leearcadia]

Sounds nasty.... But for some reason, I can't help but think some pieces were left out of this story, perhaps a history of overstays, or something else... Either way, I am sure Mr Kent is happy to be back home again!

I wonder how long his overstay was?

[OzMick]

My passport was stolen while in Thailand, about 2 weeks before I was due to make a 90 day visa run. I reported this to Chaweng police station, was given a report, and then spoke to a senior officer as I was nominating a Thai national as the most likely suspect.

I asked him what actions I was required to make after making the report and was told to get a new passport as soon as possible, then report to the Immigration Office in BKK. Replacement was complicated by the fact that my prior passport had gone with the current, and 2 older passports and a Birth Certificate Extract were not good enough, not even with the backing of the Samui Hon Consul whom I had known around 10 years. A full Birth Certificate had to be sent from Australia (I had to get family to organize) before a replacement passport could be issued.

Well into overstay, I fronted at the BKK Immigration Office (what a madhouse) with new passport and police report. Immigration's attitude was that I had no visa (4 month old type O not transferrable to new passport), was on overstay and didn't have a ticket to leave the country, so I should be arrested on the spot. After an attitude correction payment they accepted my rail ticket to Surat Thani with a promise to keep going to Malaysia.

Either through ignorance or bastardry, the Chaweng officer neglected to tell me to immediately report to Samui Immigration. No investigation was ever carried out into the passport theft, or any other of the numerous crimes I have reported over the years. Completely bloody useless.

[robert00]

Amazing Thailand!

Or whatever crap they're saying now.

And the Swed's still keep coming by the droves, it shows how many swede's read newspapers and dont care, just hope for the best.

Must be nice to have a holiday not knowing if you are coming back home in one piece.

Edited September 3, 2011 by metisdead
Bold font removed, use default forum font when posting. Posting in bold font is bad forum netiquette.

[falangjim]

What a very poorly written article. Tough to read through all the errors. Tough luck to Kent. Feel better.

[Aussietrooper]

Dry your eye princess and harden the <deleted> up!!

[inquisitive]

What do you suppose would happen in all of your home countries if you walked into a police station and announced that you were an illegal alien?

I am happy to say that I have to guess, but I'm pretty sure I would not be put in a cell with a corpse and given only an insufficient alottment of rice and water each day. I'm pretty sure they'd allow me to take my life-sustaining medications ands I would guess that I wouldn't neet to find a lawyer that can pay money under the table to get me free. What do you suppose would happen in YOUR home country, Richard? Would they beat you with dead fish and burn an "IA" into your forehead? Maybe bury you in the sand and send cockroaches to sleep in your ears? Get serious, my friend. The police behavior reported here would simply not be acceptable in any first-world country.

[puipuitom]

My own experience: for somje further evaluation of buying contracts I wanted to overstay just 2 weeks longer. The maximum I could get was 5 aysafter adding a few loose papers in my application ( 5.000 THB).

Sorry, but my baby corn, bamboo shoots, mixed veg, mango slices, lychees, longans, papaya dices, pineapple, soya sauces, pad Thai, rice vermicelli, coconut milk, fruit drinks, aloe vera, and several other items come now from other sources. And rice: forbidden even to send a sample to Thailand, so, get now Jasmine rice from the right side of the dot line, called Cambodia.

Amazing Thailand. They need a micacle to fall awake from their chair.

[Ianatlarge]

I agree with SpiderMike. There is no excuse for this type of behaviour. If this guy is accused of a crime then he should not be tortured, but charged. No charges were made. This is just one more example of police stupidity and greed gone mad. This incident should be widely publicised. It is beyond a joke, it is beyond simple corruption. This man was suffering a heart condition, he could have died, most likely his condition was exacerbated by his mis-treatment. How many other westerners in Thailand (those who bring in money & support Thai families) will suffer medical problems and then be harassed for money ? I will let lose my libertarian tendencies—an armed citizenry does not have to endure these stupidities. A disarmed citizenry does.

[wlcart]

I lost my passport once and while waiting for my government to replace it, my visa expired.

It was no problem, I went into Thai immigration, gave them a note from my embassy, handed over my new passport, paid 1,900 baht and got a 7 day extension to clean up my act.

Over all my years in Thailand I have known a few guys that have overstayed by months and years. They all just ended up paying some cash, and at worse were blacklisted from returning, some not even that. None of them went to jail.

Not sure what happen here with this guy, but if you go to immigration or the airport and you should be good to go.

[lockman]

OK, he was in violation of the law, but sought help, trusting that being forthright and honest would be at least rewarded with objective behavior and a financial.

Instead, he got what he got. The post that stated "lost in translation" has something there, yet one wonders what was going through the minds of the arresting officer that resulted in this decision.

Be irresponsible and under the influence and healthy: Shove a tuk tuk driver and get put into a coma by Thai citizens

Be responsible and sober and near death: Go on overstay because you are in hospital, and immediately report upon release, and go to jail.

But He didn't do that " When Kent Melmblom was discharged from the hospital, knew that his visa expired. One week after discharge, he went to the police " And go to the Police???

No you go to immigration IMMEDIATELY upon release.

Been here awhile now and immigration has been fine and very helpful to most so long as you STAY legal;, but try to cut corners, etc gets nasty fast.

[kiwikeith]

This story need to be shown overseas, and Thailand need a serious black eye over this. I do not care what the circumstances are, this is completely unjustifiable. The only way changed happen here, is if Thailand loses face worldwide. The tourism industry is dying on the vine, and the TOT continues to spin out the false figures. An informed source told me that the island wide occupancy rate in Koh Samui in June was 20%! That is the lowest rate in the past 20 years. Something is happening, in a big way, and every Thai I talk to has their head in the sand, in regard to the issues. Where is the Anna Hazare of Thailand? Do the Thai people care, at all? Does the government care, or even acknowledge these issues, in the slightest manner? Who is going to be held accountable for this latest travesty?

Intersting spidermike, my thai wife said after returning to hua hin last year after a few years away," LOTS of suspicious characters lurking around Hua Hin now ,never see like this before"

In Bangkok african girls lined up in the street in Nana no Work Visa in the face of police.

Lots of tourists got scarred away from the red shirt era and now lots of russian mafia in BK and lots more arab and indian tourists espscially in BK.

Thailand changed then and needs cleaning up sorry to say but to many mafia now running the crime and combining with thai.

Personally I used to enjoy a few days in pattaya and phuket but now I could not be bothered with the mafia infested plc's.

[MrRed]

" or just embellished to sell more Tabloid Newspaper copy. "

Aint that the truth ^

Look on the bright side it might stop a few more Swedes holidaying here.

[wans]

I would LOVE to see all of the video footage from the police station from when he walked in asking for help and how they just swept him away into a cell in chains and shackles. You never know, we just might.

wishful thinking, do you think the police even keep footage? how much of the cells can they see when there are blankets hanging on the bars for the inmates to sit behind when they smoke the yaba the police get their ladyboy helpers to sell to the inmates? soi 9 is totally corrupt, maybe while you are asking for the video footage you could see if the police and their long term helper inmates that survive by stealing food and clothes and selling yaba to the new comers want to take urine tests?

Edited September 3, 2011 by wans

[animatic]

Easy to get extension based on hospitalization.

From Police order 777/2551

2.25 In the case of medical treatment or convalescence or to look after a patient:

Permission will be granted for a period of not more than 90 days at a time.

(1) Confirmation and request has been made by a physician responsible for the treatment. The Physician must describe the details of treatment and advised that the illness is a barrier for travelling.

(2) In the case of looking after a patient, confirmation and request has been made by the physician responsible for the treatment or by an embassy or consulate.

(3) Patient Carer, except parents, spouse, children, adopted children or children of spouse, shall be granted no more than 1 extra person.

He should have brought the receipt or a copy for his hospital stay including dates as inpatient. But either way the police should have escorted him to the hospital, or where the documents were available.

I postulate they wanted a bribe to do so, he had no money left, and they thought he did and wanted to sweat it out of him, but it was not available and they just decided to pretend he might break soon, rather than admit they miscalculated and stuck the tongs to the wrong guy, and thus lose face for not getting much out of him.

The longer he was there the more money they wanted to prove they were right in the beginning.

Sick sick sick.

Edited September 3, 2011 by animatic

[12DrinkMore]

How can anyone think things are alright in Thailand when the new PM wears clothes in one day that are worth ONE THOUSAND TIMES the current DAILY minimum wage?

Sounds OK to me, at least the money is going into the economy and boosting the GDP. she should spend even more.

200,000 Baht,eh?

If I had to replace my entire wardrobe it wouldn't come to 10,000 THB

I suppose I'm not doing my fair share of spending around here.

[skorchio]

Sounds like b/s to me. Especially Bangkok Hospital will always ask patients if they need help with extending the visa. I know because I was admitted and had a group of people checking if I need help. I had a valid visa so I did not need help. So to me there are bits missing from the story.

Yeah I think so too. And why did he wait a few days after release from hospital......something missing here for sure.

[daviddrinkell]

According to the gossip in Swedish he's a "manager" connected to some really bad guys in Sweden.

There's something else in this story.

Stick to what you know as truth. Gossip costs lives.

[Britannia]

"knew that his visa expired. One week after discharge, he went to the police station "

So what's your point???

[kamluan]

after all a good end...

but what happends to the ones who can not pay 30.000 in one time??

....

.......

[slapout]

As the accused/Thai police have made no comment on the article, even if aware of it, if they care, or were asked to comment, it is impossible to be sure of the true circumstances or procedures followed.

Fortunately I have had little contact with Thai police other than a couple parking tickets, but have observed and know of instances where BIB individuals have shown a complete lack of humanity to individuals who were victims, not criminals. Saying this, I have also seen and have knowledge of the complete opposite of this type of behavior.

It has been said, that when a cop or any official crosses the line, they go into free fall and eventually reach the lowest rung of societies social structure. Some start their decline in the first months or years of service, thus by the time they have put in half their working lifetime, they have become a life form that can only be accepted by its kind. I have no idea of the percentage of bad/good cops in Thailand but I look at the BIB they same as riding a motorbike here. Eventually you are going to get banged up, if you present yourself to the odds, often enough.

[vpi78]

Sounds like b/s to me. Especially Bangkok Hospital will always ask patients if they need help with extending the visa. I know because I was admitted and had a group of people checking if I need help. I had a valid visa so I did not need help. So to me there are bits missing from the story.

Yeah I think so too. And why did he wait a few days after release from hospital......something missing here for sure.

Yeah, the whole story is just BS the guy made up to cover whatever illegal activities he was up to that caused him to be arrested.

The real story is how many TV posters believe the crap unconditionally, but then many get their regular News from sources like the Sun and National Enquirer (if they can read) and have never been to Thailand in the first place other than on the web.

[ROMANOBA]

What happened to this swedish guy is terrible, no doubt about that. But I start to be a little be sick of all the comments stating that' only money counts here in Thailand'.We simply forget that it's quite convenient for us - the farang living in Thailand- to know that, if we will be in some kind of trouble in the future, we will be able to get out of it just paying somebody.When I do something wrong on the road with my car I am happy to get out of it with a 300 bath bribe, whereas in my country it would cost me 200 euro....Thailand is not the wild west or a country where we are constantly harassed by police in order to bleed financially.This having been said, IF the details about what happened to this swedish guy are correct, yes, it was awful, but I have some doubts: in Thailand USUALLY hospitals always assist farang who are hospitalized and whose visa is expired.

Furthermore there are SPECIAL detention centers for farang who overstay.Last but not least police always inform the embassy if they detain a foreigner.So, many points which are not clear in this story.

Amazing Thailand!

Or whatever crap they're saying now.

[MrJohnson]

Sounds nasty.... But for some reason, I can't help but think some pieces were left out of this story, perhaps a history of overstays, or something else... Either way, I am sure Mr Kent is happy to be back home again!

Agreed. I think we got the expurgated version of this tale.

[renaissanc]

It's sad to see most posters here essentially calling the Swede a liar and saying that his story is made-up nonsense. This is so unfair, I feel! Remember that it happened at Pattaya Police Station, which is probably the most corrupt police station in Thailand, and this police station may even qualify for the S.E. Asia Champions League of corrupt police stations. Its corruption and ethics have been infamous since before I came to Thailand in 1984.

[Bakseedaa]

not to self: if I discover I have a expired Visa, do not visa anyone officals. Get in minivan for Suvarnabhumi airport and airaisa ticket to Singapore in hand. Pay the overstay fine as I exit.

Dead right Paul.... unless you know someone really well....get the ticket first and pay at the airport... Thai immigration and Thai police will do anything for moneys...Anything.. I am talking from experience... very expensive experience and if I did not have so much time and cash in my business , I would be in Vietnam... and all going well, I will be there soon..! I,m so sad that Thailand has become so corrupt, and we all know who to blame..

[PoorSucker]

According to the gossip in Swedish he's a "manager" connected to some really bad guys in Sweden.

There's something else in this story.

Stick to what you know as truth. Gossip costs lives.

He likes to show he's face in the major Swedish newspapers.

http://www.expressen.se/noje/1.704990/jag-trodde-hon-var-dod

[rodcourt49]

Well on the bright side, the significant loss of weight so do his heart issues no harm.

..come on..have hearth!

[Nisa]

It's sad to see most posters here essentially calling the Swede a liar and saying that his story is made-up nonsense. This is so unfair, I feel! Remember that it happened at Pattaya Police Station, which is probably the most corrupt police station in Thailand, and this police station may even qualify for the S.E. Asia Champions League of corrupt police stations. Its corruption and ethics have been infamous since before I came to Thailand in 1984.

And Pattaya is full of some of the worst types of tourists that come to Thailand ... including those with mental issues be they apparent before coming or due to their indulgence when there.

Think logically for a minute ... would any credible reporter or newspaper run with a story like this without even trying to get quotes from the police, embassy or immigration? There was absolutely nothing in this guy's story that is backed up with any fact at all except he shows a passport that appears to only show a non-visa entry & exit stamp along with the overstay stamp they use when you pay your overstay at the airport.

It just makes no sense to not question this story.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Nisa

[blabla1]

The usual knee-jerk reactions without knowing the full story.

Don't you love it, any story true or not always brings out the I hate Thailand brigade. But I still live here and will not move but I hate this place and will bad mouth it every chance I get bunch.

I'd say we bad mouth the incidents that happen,not the place, be aware of that!

[Junglejumbo]

Forgive me if I'm repeating what may have already been said, but surely the most important piece of information which is the number of days that he overstayed is missing here. How could the writer forget to include it? And why the writer did not ask the pattaya police for this detail rather than relying on vague verbal information from the victim's mouth which leaves us guessing that it expired at some time around a hospital stay?

We also don't know how long he was in hospital, or was he in at all? The article does not specifically say he stayed overnight and so may have only been outpatient for a supposed chest pain. The most common cause of chest pains is wind.

It is difficult to believe that he didn't think of asking the doctor for a letter which is common sense in this situation wherever you are in the world. This draws into question what his illness was.

Had he really had a heart problem would he not have indeed passed away given the dire environment and no medication?

One fact that we do know is that he owned a house and been here 10 years (perhaps off and on?). This is surprising given that he's on a tourist visa as usually embassies start to tighten up on you after about seven consecutive tourist visas (and extensions) or about 2 years on a single or 3-4 years on double entries. This potentially draws into question just how overstayed was he.

However, there is no excuse for the poor treatment by the jailers which probably break international laws (if the information presented here is correct). It would be great to see a reporter going back and getting different sides of the story rather than taking one man at his word.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Junglejumbo