'Drugs planted on Australian couple' in Thailand

[chooka]

I tried again, it's doing the same thing. Taking me to the landing page and not opening, doesn't matter, I got the gist of the story from the link that SE posted.

Try this then scroll down to the story "Thai Shock for melb Duo"

http://www.3aw.com.au/

Got it thanks.

Re your comment about it being all over the news in Australia. I think people would let stories about tuk tuk and jet ski scams woosh over their heads. Not this one though.

The idea of this becoming a new scam is sickening and terrifying for many. It's one thing to be scammed for a few hundred / thousand baht, something else to land with a drug charge against you.

This is repulsive. What a shock it must be to that couple.

Agree the jet ski and tuk tuks are nothing, The Corby incident in Bali is springing into the minds of a lot of aussies. For those that don't know Shappele Corby is an Australian who copped 20 yrs in a Bali prison for hooch that was allegedly planted in her luggage

[grantbkk]

Pretty confusing facts in the report. Someone other than a blogger that didn't finish high school should do an in depth piece and get the facts straight. As it reads now it could have been a prank by an acquaintance or a very serious potential problem for all tourists.

Several years ago I opened my locked checked luggage and found an unfamiliar bag inside when I got to my hotel in Bangkok. Inside was a shaving kit, an alarm clock and more than a dozen hypodermic needles with several vials of insulin. Most places in the world i would have returned the bag to the airport. But this is Thailand so I properly dumped everything forthwith.

carry-on is the only way to go. I can do 3 weeks with my bag but sacrifices have to be made and sometimes new clothes are in order.

[londonthai]

if the story is true, the couple should make a report to thai police signed with their full names, even through thai consulate in australia, and name hotel where they were staying.

I don't think they had time to check in for another hotel close to airport to check their suitcase, as this would mean missing a flight and paying high hotel charges. If it was me I would rather check luggage in the toilets at the airport.

most probably thai cops try to clear the smear by checking facts

[happysanook]

This is one of my worst fears. Someone doesn't like you or has a problem with you? Couple hundred bucks worth of dope thrown in your backyard and a few bucks to the local bib to go check out a 'tip'. You're all done.

[Credo]

I am betting that there will be people flocking to Thailand when they here that they put free grass in your luggage.

[GrantSmith]

More bad news for Thailand and it's tourism money maker.

I look forward to the TAT's spin on this one...

The gulity parties planting these drugs were not Thai, quite obviously its was the Burmese drug barons..

Well played sir...

I should think with that wit, you might find yourself on the TAT's PR payroll in the near future

[jmccarty]

Reminds me of a case a year or 2 ago when the authorities in (i think) Japan were planting drugs in unsuspecting baggage @ an airport in order to give their dogs a chance to find it.

It backfired spectacularly.

I was approached by 2 uniformed guys at the bagage carousel in Los Angeles, one with a dog. The other asked if he could put a small cloth bag into my sock to test the dog. There were dozens of people around as witness so I said why not. Then they let the dogs lead loose and it immediately came to me and pawed my ankle. Not sure what that proved, maybe they were just showing everyone that the dog did its job?

Scary stuff though, bet that couple have thought long and hard about the bags movements from when they packed them to when they noticed something was not right.

Edited August 26, 2013 by jmccarty

[jayceenik]

Its a good thing they noticed the damage to thier luggage, if they hadn't then they could have become victims of extortion, or worse, found themselves residing at the Bangkok Hilton for a few years. This is the reason I pay a little extra and get my luggage wrapped at the airport.

I never understood the point of plastic wrapping your checked-in luggage.

In many countries Customs have the right to open you luggage in the back area after you've checked in at your point of departure, don't they ?

Plastic-wrapped, locked or not !!

[chooka]

if the story is true, the couple should make a report to thai police signed with their full names, even through thai consulate in australia, and name hotel where they were staying.

I don't think they had time to check in for another hotel close to airport to check their suitcase, as this would mean missing a flight and paying high hotel charges. If it was me I would rather check luggage in the toilets at the airport.

most probably thai cops try to clear the smear by checking facts

So are you saying that they just made this story up and contacted the Australian Embassy and media. Why would they do that? They did not board their flight they stayed in BKK. They are actually still in BKK and spoke to the Australian media live from BKK this morning.

[Calimotty]

From the radio interview, it sounds like they suspect the hotel staff of being in on it -- they left their bags behind the desk before checking out so they could go for a 30-minute walk round town.

That is truly scary -- because what can you do about it?

A handful of weed is hardly an international smuggling scam.

Maybe they pissed someone off? Street wise up kiddies!

Edited August 26, 2013 by Calimotty

[theblether]

Its a good thing they noticed the damage to thier luggage, if they hadn't then they could have become victims of extortion, or worse, found themselves residing at the Bangkok Hilton for a few years. This is the reason I pay a little extra and get my luggage wrapped at the airport.

I never understood the point of plastic wrapping your checked-in luggage.

In many countries Customs have the right to open you luggage in the back area after you've checked in at your point of departure, don't they ?

Plastic-wrapped, locked or not !!

It's an immediate warning that someone has been in your bag. If you see it coming down the carousel and it's been tampered with, don't touch it and go get the airline rep. Get them to retrieve it and explain what happened to it.

After all you gave it to them for their safe keeping. I had to do that at Singapore once, it was a false alarm but the airline rep said I'd done the right thing. ( turned out that the bag had been ripped in transport, baggage handlers had to repack it. The airline replaced the bag.).

@zydeco I would certainly prefer a note from whoever opened my bag to say it had been searched and by whom. I don't have a clue who opened my bags. Then you read what grantbkk says and it makes you sick to think what's going on in these airports.

@chooka Especially in light of the timing re the Corby case, that's been all over the media recently and had people replaying the whole story in their minds.

[GrantSmith]

So are you saying that they just made this story up and contacted the Australian Embassy and media. Why would they do that? They did not board their flight they stayed in BKK. They are actually still in BKK and spoke to the Australian media live from BKK this morning.

According to this article, they were in HKT about to board a flight to BKK...

[chooka]

More bad news for Thailand and it's tourism money maker.

I look forward to the TAT's spin on this one...

The gulity parties planting these drugs were not Thai, quite obviously its was the Burmese drug barons..

I bet TAT are sending the cleaners in as we speak. With 30K+ Aussie tourists arriving in Thailand every month that is a lot of baht. I will put down 10 bucks that a culprit/fall guy is arrested in the next 2 days. Anyone want to raise? TAT have to squash this news story sweeping across Australia.

The story was just on the Aussie news again and they also mentioned the scam involving the two Italian tourists last week, I'm guessing this story is going to get bigger in Australia.

[Soutpeel]

More bad news for Thailand and it's tourism money maker.

I look forward to the TAT's spin on this one...

The gulity parties planting these drugs were not Thai, quite obviously its was the Burmese drug barons..

Well played sir...

I should think with that wit, you might find yourself on the TAT's PR payroll in the near future

They couldnt pay me enough and even if they tempted me with a Free Thai Elite card, version 2.0...I dont think I would be interested...

TAT dont need PR, they need some like Charles Lutwidge Dodgson....(AKA Lewis Carroll, for those members who are literary disadvantaged)

[chooka]

So are you saying that they just made this story up and contacted the Australian Embassy and media. Why would they do that? They did not board their flight they stayed in BKK. They are actually still in BKK and spoke to the Australian media live from BKK this morning.

According to this article, they were in HKT about to board a flight to BKK...

Phuket to Bangkok.

[Mario2008]

Reminds me of a case a year or 2 ago when the authorities in (i think) Japan were planting drugs in unsuspecting baggage @ an airport in order to give their dogs a chance to find it.

It backfired spectacularly.

I was approached by 2 uniformed guys at the bagage carousel in Los Angeles, one with a dog. The other asked if he could put a small cloth bag into my sock to test the dog. There were dozens of people around as witness so I said why not. Then they let the dogs lead loose and it immediately came to me and pawed my ankle. Not sure what that proved, maybe they were just showing everyone that the dog did its job?

Scary stuff though, bet that couple have thought long and hard about the bags movements from when they packed them to when they noticed something was not right.

For a dog, finding drugs/explosive or wathever the dog is trained for is a game. The dog tries to locate the item and is rewarded. That is why if they let a dog search and if nothing is found, they place the substance themselves so the dog can find something and get his reward for finding it.

[expatsupreme]

Never buy lousy baggage with a zipper and then using locks on it. I use plastic baggage without zipper and build in locks. It is very hard to open those, you have to break the case and you will immediately see that.

You have 2 locks on the side and one central lock with keylock that holds everything together.

Just my 50 cents, and dont trust shady characters

but yes this is super scary

[TheGhostWithin]

The thing missing from this article is if the couple packed their own bags, when the locks were "locked", when they noticed the locks were missing, and if the couple were in possession of their luggage the whole time that the bags were locked. They obviously were not if the locks were cut, but establishing this would quickly narrow down the places and periods of time which the locks could have been cut and who would have been responsible.

If you located such items in your luggage at the airport and you declared it, would one still be charged with possession? My concern is that in the Kingdom there would be little consideration given to honest declaration, which I am sure has caused huge complications for some in the past who are forced to traffic drugs by international drug gangs but do not want to.

They weren't in possession of their bags the whole time, they left the bags with hotel staff for around 30 minutes whilst they took a walk waiting for their ride. The woman gives her story in the link attached. They were very lucky and a good move I think to immeadiately contact the Australian Embassy for advice.

Thank you. I heard the news feed. I wondered if they might have not noticed the locks were damaged between the hotel and getting to the airport.. most people would go through their bags prior to checking in without even noticing, everyone has something in their bag they pull out before checking in (for me, it is moisturizer, the air con onboard kills my skin).

Perhaps instead of doing terrible things like kidnapping tourists, the Police should now be pulling cameras and interviewing all staff on site at the hotel that day to have the person which is found to have planted it with possession of drugs, tampering with luggage, intentional damage, and theft.

A good opportunity to show that the Thai Police really can protect tourists from Mafias.

[pacovl46]

Its a good thing they noticed the damage to thier luggage, if they hadn't then they could have become victims of extortion, or worse, found themselves residing at the Bangkok Hilton for a few years. This is the reason I pay a little extra and get my luggage wrapped at the airport.

You won't get a few years for a handful of marijuana in Thailand. But imagine it had been heroin and they had been off to Singapore. Then it would've most likely been a death sentence!!!

Edited August 26, 2013 by pacovl46

[YeaBiGgiEs]

Well perhaps it was a "handful" and 5kilos that they innocently had forgotten to include. Kudos to them!

[beachyhead]

I don't know how true this story is but when coming to Thailand on one of my first trips my Mother said be careful when going through the airport as a daughter of a friend of hers when returning to BK via Phuket airport was stopped and had her backpack checked by Police as she entered the airport, all clear she was allowed through. As she was waiting to check in she realised that her period had started and went to the Toilets, searching through her backpack for tampons she came across a little plastic bag containing an assortment of pills, she flushed them down the toilet and checked the rest of her bag very carefully. After checking in and whilst going through security she notice someone nodding in her direction and she was pulled over and her bag searched in detail and then she was searched and the bag searched again before being allowed through. If a true story and in the light of the reports that we are hearing all too often these days in Thailand its very possible, then it makes Thailand a very scary place to visit.

[berg1666]

Reminds me of a case a year or 2 ago when the authorities in (i think) Japan were planting drugs in unsuspecting baggage @ an airport in order to give their dogs a chance to find it.

It backfired spectacularly.

In June my sister-in-law and her daughter flew from US to BKK via Narita. At Narita the customs insisted on emptying all her bags (including carry-on) even though only transiting, with several officers going through multiple bags all at the same time. While she was distracted, Japanese customs officers helped themselves to USD$2k from her handbag, which she only realised once she arrived in BKK.

Never ever take your eyes off a customs inspection, no matter where you are.

[sunshine51]

This is a scary situation and the couple is lucky to have caught it before

they landed in some deep kimchee. I also await TAT's spin on this article.

[zydeco]

I had the same sinking feeling awhile back coming back from the US. Got back to BKK and found the lock on my suitcase missing. And the strap I had tucked inside was missing. Got home and found a note from Homeland Security saying they had cut open the lock (never mentioned the strap they kept for themselves) and it was my problem if anything was stolen or missing. And what if someone put something INSIDE, as happened to these people, well, that was my problem, too. Get to Asia and get the death penalty for "smuggling" drugs, all because Homeland Security makes your suitcase a target of opportunity by cutting off the locks.

I doubt that Homeland Security would leave a note if they were smuggling drugs.

You miss the point, likely because I tried to condense the message too much. Homeland Security does leave a "form" in your baggage, notifying you that your luggage was opened. It's a simple card a little over 5x7. My fear was that after opening the luggage, it went through the entire system from the US and several plane changes until arriving in BKK. All the while, it was unlocked and a target of opportunity for any gangs or anyone else working in or around airline baggage crews to put something in it. Sure, they can do this with almost any piece of luggage, just force it open. But an unlocked bag, with just a zipper on it, gives someone a target of opportunity. Takes less than a second to open and put something in. The point is Homeland Security made me vulnerable. There should have been a wrapped tag taped and placed around the luggage notifying people down the line that it had already been opened.

[Zpete]

I tried again, it's doing the same thing. Taking me to the landing page and not opening, doesn't matter, I got the gist of the story from the link that SE posted.

Same here, I think it is Yahoo causing the problem.

[seadoo]

I travel frequently on business and I buy yellow coloured plastic electrical cable ties which I use to lock my bags, they are easily seen on the bag and the likelyhood of someone having these at an airport would be minimal, so my bags come through and they are missing, then I know my bags have been opened.

[Toscano]

There is a lot to be said for having one's bags security checked at the beginning of the journey and then plastic wrapped and sealed .

[jingjoke]

#9 '...because Homeland Security makes your suitcase a target of opportunity by cutting off the locks.'

Let's be fair here. If one were to read up on airline security issues and procedures before taking to the sky you would learn that -

TSA (Transportation Security Administration) Baggage Locks have been available most everywhere for years now. They enable Homeland Security to open and re-lock your luggage with a special universal master key.

I purchased mine at Amorn Electronics in CMai four years ago. Sample image... low cost:

[pedro01]

More bad news for Thailand and it's tourism money maker.

I look forward to the TAT's spin on this one...

The gulity parties planting these drugs were not Thai, quite obviously its was the Burmese drug barons..

I bet TAT are sending the cleaners in as we speak. With 30K+ Aussie tourists arriving in Thailand every month that is a lot of baht. I will put down 10 bucks that a culprit/fall guy is arrested in the next 2 days. Anyone want to raise? TAT have to squash this news story sweeping across Australia.

The story was just on the Aussie news again and they also mentioned the scam involving the two Italian tourists last week, I'm guessing this story is going to get bigger in Australia.

I was speaking to an Aussie gal in Phuket a few weeks ago. She was really disappointed with how the place has turned out and how expensive it had got.

She's had her last trip here. She thinks Bali is nicer, cheaper and has more things for the kids to do.

The only thing she says she'll miss is the food.

If many Aussies think like this, then these stories won't help.

[Lancelot]

Lucky for the Aussie couple that their bag was over weight and they subsequently noticed the bag was tampered with. Scary stuff and kudos to the Aussie press for reporting on "The Land of Smiles" brand name...