S Korean man arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport for smuggling 12kg gold

[webfact]

South Korean man arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport

BANGKOK, 2 July 2014 (NNT) - A South Korean man has been apprehended by Customs officials at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport for attempting to smuggle 12 gold bars out of the country.

Park Sukman, a 67 year-old South Korean national, was on his way to board an international flight to Seoul before leaving Thailand. However, he was detained at the airport upon his departure at the boarding gate C1A when authorities noticed something suspicious about his behavior.

Customs officials, along with Immigration Police and soldiers from the 2nd Artillery Battalion (King’s Guard) have seized his luggage and found a total of 12 gold bars weighing 12-kilograms each. All of them have a combined value of around 16 million baht. An item resembling an orange sapphire was also found in his possession.

The South Korean man would be held accountable on charges of smuggling goods that do not have a customs clearance as well as other related charges.


-- NNT 2014-07-02

[JRSoul]

12 x 12kg bars = 4629 troy ounces, @ US$1300/ounce and THB30/dollar = THB180.5 million.

And he probably won't get a refund on his excess luggage charges.

[Gulfsailor]

12 x 12kg bars = 4629 troy ounces, @ US$1300/ounce and THB30/dollar = THB180.5 million.

And he probably won't get a refund on his excess luggage charges.

All sounds kinda weird, I agree. Must have been 12x 1kg nuggets, totalling 12kg. Total value then also makes sense.

[JoeThePoster]

Couldn't they just let him go in exchange for all those unpaid gangnam style royalties?

[Chao Lao Beach]

If I had a 100kg+ hand luggage I would look suspicious as well

Quality reporting...not

[Kerryd]

Each bar was 12kgs, converted to troy ounces = 385.81t (http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/kilograms-to-troy-ounces.htm - http://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/substances/gold.php)

Spot gold prices (New York) = $1,326 USD (http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegoldnewyork.html - http://goldprice.org/gold-price-data.html)

385.81 x $1,326 = $511,584 USD - (16,562,000 THB) per bar. 12 bars would be about $6,139,009 USD (or 198,719,747 THB)

"when authorities noticed something suspicious about his behavior."

Ya think ? 67 year old guy trying to lug 144 kgs of gold onto the plane ?

HTF did he get 144 kgs of gold through check-in and the security screening, before getting to the departure gate ?!?!? Can you imagine the poor stewardess trying to help him put his bag(s) into the overhead bin ? Does he need to adopt an heir ? If so, I'm available for a price !

[JeremyBowskill]

Clearly it was 12 x 1 kg bars. Wonder what he was up to, some kind of vat scam maybe..........

[Pib]

The Bangkok Post is reporting just 12 one-kilogram gold bars along with a picture of the 1kg bars laying on a table. Nothing about 12 bars each weighing 12KG like the OP article

Edited July 2, 2014 by Pib

[EyesWideOpen]

This story makes no sense whatsoever. He comes to Thailand, and buys something.

Could have been a gold necklace, a laptop, or whatever. Then you get on a plane

and leave with it, like countless other foreigners have done. What is the crime ??

Countries restrict goods coming INTO their countries, never out that I have ever heard

of. Exception being large amounts of currency, but that is for different reasons.

This sounds like a tidy earner for the customs dept, well known for being

one of the most corrupt agencies in Thailand. I would love to see the Thai law

that says you cannot leave Thailand with gold..........

Edited July 2, 2014 by EyesWideOpen

[webfact]

South Korean held over smuggling charges

BANGKOK: -- A South Korean man was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport for trying to smuggle 12 gold bars worth Bt16 million, out of the country.

The 67-year-old Park Sukman Glover was about to board a flight to Seoul when he was detained at the boarding gate, as the authorities noticed something suspicious about his behavior, Customs Department advisor Narin Kalayanamit said.

After seizing his luggage, officials found 12 gold bars weighing 12 kilograms. An item resembling an orange sapphire was also found in his possession. He would initially be charged for trying to smuggle out goods that do not have customs clearance along with other charges.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/South-Korean-held-over-smuggling-charges-30237586.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-02

[EyesWideOpen]

Customs clearance ????? ..... This was a tip off. Authorities at the gate

notice nothing. Whoever sold him the gold probably tipped the authorities

for a cut. This story also makes no sense as he never would have made

it past security. As soon as the x -ray saw solid bars in his bag, they would

have made him open the bag. Anything out of the ordinary will prompt a

search...... Would love to know what really happened here.

Edited July 2, 2014 by EyesWideOpen

[garydubbs]

its against the law to take gold out of thailand?

[JeremyBowskill]

This story makes no sense whatsoever. He comes to Thailand, and buys something.

Could have been a gold necklace, a laptop, or whatever. Then you get on a plane

and leave with it, like countless other foreigners have done. What is the crime ??

Countries restrict goods coming INTO their countries, never out that I have ever heard

of. Exception being large amounts of currency, but that is for different reasons.

This sounds like a tidy earner for the customs dept, well known for being

one of the most corrupt agencies in Thailand. I would love to see the Thai law

that says you cannot leave Thailand with gold..........

Gold is the same as currency, you have to declare it over a certain limit (I think 10,000 dollars). Think about it, if it wasn't so every crook would do his laundry this way.

[kriswillems]

Strange, gold is very easy to see on X-rays. It's completely black. Nobody would ever try to get it through on X-ray.

I wonder what's illegal about getting gold bars out of the country. it's just like money - isn't it?

I thought you only had to declare money when you enter a country, not when you leave?

[ChrisY1]

12 x 12kg bars = 4629 troy ounces, @ US$1300/ounce and THB30/dollar = THB180.5 million.

And he probably won't get a refund on his excess luggage charges.

All sounds kinda weird, I agree. Must have been 12x 1kg nuggets, totalling 12kg. Total value then also makes sense.

Pretty sure your right...12 x 1kg bars.......not a nice loss for him.....plus fines/jail time.....a bad day indeed!

[Pib]

This story makes no sense whatsoever. He comes to Thailand, and buys something.

Could have been a gold necklace, a laptop, or whatever. Then you get on a plane

and leave with it, like countless other foreigners have done. What is the crime ??

Countries restrict goods coming INTO their countries, never out that I have ever heard

of. Exception being large amounts of currency, but that is for different reasons.

This sounds like a tidy earner for the customs dept, well known for being

one of the most corrupt agencies in Thailand. I would love to see the Thai law

that says you cannot leave Thailand with gold..........

Gold is the same as currency, you have to declare it over a certain limit (I think 10,000 dollars). Think about it, if it wasn't so every crook would do his laundry this way.

Probably being considered as money/gold coin. When leaving or entering it must be declared if over 20K USD or its equivalent. See below from Thai customs website.

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/travellers/departing+from+thailand/departingfromthailand

Foreign Currency

The travelers bringing foreign currency more than USD 20,000 or its equivalent into or out of Thailand are required to make a report to Customs. This report is required by the “Ministerial Regulation (No. 25) B.E. 2530 issued under the Authority of the Currency Exchange Control Act B.E. 2485 and relevant regulations.

The Regulation and Notification require that the travelers bringing foreign currency into or out of Thailand, both a bank note and a coin, with the total aggregate value exceeding USD 20,000 or its equivalent, must report it to a Customs officer at a port/airport of entry or exit, using the given Foreign Currency Declaration Form. The travelers must complete, sign, and submit the Form to report their foreign currency where such currency are physically carried by a person arriving in or departing from Thailand, or where they form part of the person’s baggage and that person and his or her baggage are being carried on board the same conveyance across the border.

[bluebluewater]

Don't you just know the eyes of those Custom fellers just LITE UP when they opened up the bag and saw that gold.

Just like in the movies when they throw open the lid of the treasure chest.

[ChrisY1]

Don't you just know the eyes of those Custom fellers just LITE UP when they opened up the bag and saw that gold.

Just like in the movies when they throw open the lid of the treasure chest.

Well...maybe there were 15 bars!

[dunque]

This story makes no sense whatsoever. He comes to Thailand, and buys something.

Could have been a gold necklace, a laptop, or whatever. Then you get on a plane

and leave with it, like countless other foreigners have done. What is the crime ??

Countries restrict goods coming INTO their countries, never out that I have ever heard

of. Exception being large amounts of currency, but that is for different reasons.

This sounds like a tidy earner for the customs dept, well known for being

one of the most corrupt agencies in Thailand. I would love to see the Thai law

that says you cannot leave Thailand with gold..........

I should imagine that the issue will be that this gold was not declared - and I think that would be a common rule in many countries.

[falang07]

Since it is impossible to wire money out of Thailand that you have not before wired in, it is clear why he wanted to "export" these gold bars. Remember to keep those foreign exchange forms if remitting bigger amounts to Thailand and expect to take it out of Thailand in the future otherwise smuggling gold will be your only option, too.

[Loles]

12 x 12kg bars = 4629 troy ounces, @ US$1300/ounce and THB30/dollar = THB180.5 million.

And he probably won't get a refund on his excess luggage charges.

12 x 12 Kg = 144 Kg

Impossible. Or the Thai authorities got clue about this man has used a junghendrich forklift ???

[metisdead]

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[FangFerang]

Gold bars confiscated? Someone did NOT get paid.;....

[IMA_FARANG]

its against the law to take gold out of thailand?

----------------

As far as I know, it is not.

But you can be sure that if you show up attempting to leave Thailand with 12 one kilogram bars of gold in your luggage someone will ask you for verification that it is your legally acquired gold.

if you can prove that you have it legally and that any required taxes on it have been paid .... thank you sir, you may leave.

If you can't produce such proof you are going to face some probing questions at best.

I presume that's why he was stopped in the first place.

And, yes, ALL checked baggage is now scanned before it is put on (at least) any international flight from the airport.

Don't be so silly as to believe that checked baggage doesn't go through a scan before it is loaded on a plane these days.

Gold bars would show up easily on a scan ..... they are so dense only a fool could miss them on a security scan.

[noitom]

What right do the Thais have to take this guy's gold?

[siampolee]

Of course there is always the chance that it wasn't the real thing that was ''discovered'' and perhaps the real thing is now elsewhere.

Remember this is Thailand and some of its exports are questionable regarding ownership and origin final destination and possible long term use too.

Edited July 2, 2014 by siampolee

[technologybytes]

I know that in some countries you need to declare cash or cash substitutes, but I was not aware that you had to make such a declaration leaving Thailand. I know you can't take Thai currency out of Thailand, but nobody would want to do that anyway.

I seriously doubt that carrying gold out of Thailand is a real criminal offence. Of course there is the potential for it being part of a broader offence.

If there is a limit for gold then what is it, and how does it apply to people with heavy gold jewellery.

Of course there is no question about the need to declare it coming in to the country, but honestly I wouldn't even know how to declare taking it out !

[HerbalEd]

12 x 12kg bars = 4629 troy ounces, @ US$1300/ounce and THB30/dollar = THB180.5 million.

And he probably won't get a refund on his excess luggage charges.

It's actually about 32.3 baht/US-dollar.

[ClutchClark]

Only one truly secure way to smuggle those out:

[HerbalEd]

If I had a 100kg+ hand luggage I would look suspicious as well

Quality reporting...not

12Kg. X 12 is 144Kg.