Thailand: Durian merchant gets 15 days in jail for selling unripe durian

[SandyFeet]

buyer's fault. Easy to tell if they're ripe or not from the smell

[GentlemanJim]

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buyer's fault. Easy to tell if they're ripe or not from the smell

True. I bet the buyer wasn't complaining about getting them cheap!

[bulekee]

I am bored shitless.I wanna go home.

[Gunna]

Green banana sellers beware, your local police will be after tea money after news of this gets out

[surangw]

maybe some people like it that way, like green mango ?

[Bpuumike]

An idiot gets bail having killed 3 cops with bad driving.... this poor soul gets 15 days for selling unripe fruit....

Well, that shows priorities in Thailand pretty clearly.

Yep, he should have run over and killed a few people with his cart and he'd be a free man now.

It gets more ludicrous by the day. Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes...

[Bpuumike]

I am bored shitless.I wanna go home.

Should drink just round the corner then it's easy.

[jcisco]

Wow, I am damn impressed with the speed at which the courts were able to hear this case. Damn speedy just like it should be. Whatever they are doing they need to share it with the rest of the system.

[noitom]

This is a preposterous illustration of the hypocrisy of Thai justice. While cop killers go about do their thing either on bail or on the loose from outstanding bench warrants.

[JohnThailandJohn]

15 Days for unripe Durian?!??!?

They should be giving at least 30-days to those selling ripe durian and water boarding those growing it.

[Cow San Load]

The Thai legal system, all about who you are,who you know and how wealthy you are.

must have been a very small durian orchard.

[ezzra]

I was sold 2 kilos of unripe mangos the other day, which police station should I report

this act of thugerry to?

[jpeg]

An idiot gets bail having killed 3 cops with bad driving.... this poor soul gets 15 days for selling unripe fruit....

Well, that shows priorities in Thailand pretty clearly.

Some of us do keep forgetting this is a third world country

[jpeg]

BTW, Any plans to jail vendors spraying their produce with toxic Formalin to keep it fresh looking, with nary a thought as to the serious health issues of their customers? Thought not.

[edgarfriendly]

how many people wanted to lynch this guy, just so they could confiscate his land and sell his fruit for themselves??

witch trials anyone??

thai people.....PMSL!!!

[Lupatria]

What's the difference between a durian and the Thai legal system?

The latter stinks more!

[Lupatria]

An idiot gets bail having killed 3 cops with bad driving.... this poor soul gets 15 days for selling unripe fruit....

Well, that shows priorities in Thailand pretty clearly.

Some of us do keep forgetting this is a third world country

...and the figure in the rating is increasing day by day

[steve73]

Durian prices (ex-farm) ALWAYS start the local season very high, and then drop rapidly as more fruit becomes available.

Rayong Chennie's (sp?) have recently been around 80bt/kg for whole fruit, but will drop to less than 20 in a few weeks. Montong's usually start the season even higher, and don't drop nearly as much.

So there is a temptation to sell the fruit before it's really ripe. It does fully ripen once it's picked, but only if it's close to being ready. For a few weeks before then, although the outer (spikey) shell looks OK, there is too much inner white pith, and too little yellow flesh - this balance changes over the last couple of weeks without the outer shell getting any bigger.

They use those little plastic hammers to tap the fruit and can tell by the hollow sound when the white pith is just starting to shrink away from the flesh, which is the ideal time to pick them. Many farmers get the buyers to inspect their fruit BEFORE picking - so they know exactly what they're getting.

Also, some people prefer them very under-ripe - especially when making the dried durian crisps. ...or if they're to be used to make the durian "toffee", they're better to be overripe.

Hope this helps..!

[coconutbar]

thats one badass fruit dealer

[JSixpack]

Thailand. The land of the free.

Yes. As long you have enough money. Otherwise...go to monkeyhouse. Who cares....

It's always a shock to discover an inconsistency in Thailand. You'll get over it.

[spidermike007]

Sorry 15 days jail for selling unripe fruit??? I see priorities out of kilter.

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Once again, the signs of a COMPLETELY dysfunctional legal and judicial system. I do not even think they know how badly they perform. I think they have no perspective. I would encourage every judge in Thailand to spend some time visiting first world courts, to see how an adult legal system functions. The court system here is fairly close to a monkey court. Murderers walk free, rapists get off with 500 baht fines, sons of rich men kill police and pedestrians with their cars, and walk free, and a durian merchant gets sent to jail for 15 days for selling unripe fruit? I am fully in support of some sort of consumer protection system. I think it would benefit the country greatly, as there is presently no real place for thais or farengs to complain about injustices being perpetrated on them. But, one needs to build a system like that, and not just impose your version of it randomly. This judge is a super freak. Unripe fruit has been sold worldwide since the beginning of time. It is up to the buyer to check things like this. Does this buyer not know how to determine if they were good durians, or not? I would suggest the judge got paid.

[siampolee]

Indeed ''the law is an ass.''

[unanimosity]

An idiot gets bail having killed 3 cops with bad driving.... this poor soul gets 15 days for selling unripe fruit....

Well, that shows priorities in Thailand pretty clearly.

The differences are though, that the durian seller's case has been heard in court and he was found guilty and the chances are that he had bail prior to the court appearance also. The other one you refer to hasn't been to court yet so he's not been sentenced.

So this doesn't show Thailand's priorities at all, clearly or otherwise.

Not to you, apparently, but why would you admit it?

[DLP]

I was sold a unripe banana the other day. Where shall i stick it ?

[tingtongteesood]

But a 500 baht fine for assault and battery on a tourist, and a long holiday for detritus such as Thaksin for stealing billions. Disgraceful ! Just order the seller to take his crap back and refund the money. No jail time necessary for that !

[wprime]

Well Durian is the 'King of Fruits'. This was clearly a case of treasonous fruit tomfoolery.

On a serious note, I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so I will just close my eyes a moment while I sit at the desk and shake my head. 15 days jail for selling unripe fruit, something which apparently could affect the local economy!! I assume the thugs in that part of the country who are minted from the corrupt rice pledging are not considered to be affecting the economy. The fact that a woman who kills 9 gets away with a 2 yr sentence reduced to a small amount of community service in comparison is a shocker. The judge should just have ordered the guy to pay the money back and eat the durian. Whatever happened to Caveat Emptor?

Caveat Emptor has no place in commercial law. Unripe durian is not fit for consumption, he risked the health of others for personal profit - hardly as minor as the article tries to make out.

[brianP]

Good, now make him shove it up his greedy ass. He will be glad he doesn't sell pineapples.

[Wombat6]

15 days in jail for selling unripe fruit !!

Congratulations .. Good job..)

Thai judicial system working very well !

has quite much get ahead.

maybe in 15 days the Durians will be ripe which should give him grounds for an appeal

[HerbalEd]

Investment companies and banks in USA rip off investors for billions of dollars ... and their managers make mult-million dollars in bonuses above their multi-million-dollar salaries ... and not one has been arrested, much less is going to jail. Thailand has no monopoly on an unfair legal system.

[outsider]

Surprised this sort of crap is 'news'. By the way, not actively going after bombers and child-killers also set legal precedent.

Edited May 1, 2014 by outsider