Has anyone seen Banged Up Abroad- Thailand.

[benj005]

I just found the show on You Tube. It has to do mostly with British people who find themselves in trouble while living or visiting in Thailand. People have been caught selling drugs, shoplifting, or just plain acting stupid. Selling drugs in Thailand is just insane and those people deserved their punishment. What were they thinking?

The thing that scared me was they had people in jail who were claiming that they were innocent. They had already spent over a year in jail awaiting their trial.

Is the show just fear mongering or should we as foreigners be worried. I wouldn't want to be thrown in a Thai jail for something I didn't do. I stay out of trouble and I respect the country's culture. I don't think I would last one week in a Thai prison. :(

[Tao Diver]

Stay close to Mummy and don't come to that evil place Thailand. 

Grow up for crying out loud.Ask the prisoners in the

UK or anywhere else and most will claim to be innocent. If you aren't doing something you shouldn't in a dodgy area you are perfectly fine. 

[arthurwait]

 Yes you can wait years for your trial here and then get a decade for something you would get a slapped wrist for in the west.

 

 Drug takers, smugglers, peados and con artists I imagine feature most.

 

  Wait for the overstayers edition next year.

[submaniac]

I've watched the show, and I think that most on this forum have. (Note: called "locked up abroad" in USA).  From the episodes I have seen on Thailand...there was no mistake about it.  Those people weren't conned or tricked.   They did it and know damn well that they did it.

[Absolut]

I just found the show on You Tube. It has to do mostly with British people who find themselves in trouble while living or visiting in Thailand. People have been caught selling drugs, shoplifting, or just plain acting stupid. Selling drugs in Thailand is just insane and those people deserved their punishment. What were they thinking?

The thing that scared me was they had people in jail who were claiming that they were innocent. They had already spent over a year in jail awaiting their trial.

Is the show just fear mongering or should we as foreigners be worried. I wouldn't want to be thrown in a Thai jail for something I didn't do. I stay out of trouble and I respect the country's culture. I don't think I would last one week in a Thai prison. :(

I've yet to see a Banged Up Abroad episode where the person in question was not guilty or completely stupid in getting caught.

The vast majority of the episodes are about small time dope mules that get caught, nieve (sp) tourists who agree to carry a bag packed by someone else or people down on their luck in their home country who get offered s free trip overseas and then play dumb when they're told they have to do something illegal.

The show is highly entertaining but it's only successful because a small percentage of people take big risks or can't recognise if it's too good to be true then it's probably not.

The BUA Thailand episode I saw was about a girl in the US who went there with a friend who was smuggling and got caught up in the ring. She was unemployed and desperate, accepted a 'free trip' to Thailand and got screwed over. Desperate people do desperate things, usually not very smart decisions.

[Tao Diver]

Most of them are not innocent but they just trot out the old :  but in the \uk I would have just got a caution : Crap

[sanuk711]

The thing that scared me was they had people in jail who were claiming that they were innocent..----benj005

 

 

I think most of the world jails are full of people claiming the same thing benj005......................

 

 

***The Tibetan jail was an eye opener, they seem to treat the prisoners more humanly than most.

[siampolee]

I banged a few birds in my early years here.

 

Now is that the same  deal as being banged up I ask ?

[mrtoad]

I banged a few birds in my early years here.
 
Now is that the same  deal as being banged up I ask ?

Then there is knocked up abroad, where you get a native pregnant.

Banged from behind abroad, well we won't go into details but you should get the drift

[tonytigerbkk]

Welcome to the thread Toadman.

 

There's going to be a few more people banged up here pretty soon.

Overstayed - caught - banged up - deported - banned.

 

So how is the Windy City?

Have you found Richard Gere's ranch yet?

[Soutpeel]

There's going to be a few more people banged up here pretty soon.
Overstayed - caught - banged up - deported - banned.

Yeap its certainly going to be interesting over the next few months in Thailand

One wonders if the IDC have increased their bedding capacity in preparation ?

but then again do you actually get a bed there ? or a straw mat on the floor ?

 

I suspect the local embassies are going have to install a hot line

 

 

[ATF]

 

There's going to be a few more people banged up here pretty soon.
Overstayed - caught - banged up - deported - banned.

Yeap its certainly going to be interesting over the next few months in Thailand

One wonders if the IDC have increased their bedding capacity in preparation ?

but then again do you actually get a bed there ? or a straw mat on the floor ?

 

I suspect the local embassies are going have to install a hot line

 

 

 

 

No beds in Suan Plu. Standing room only. One half sleeps while the other half stands. 26 days to D-Day it's going to be awash.

 

[mrtoad]

Welcome to the thread Toadman.
 
There's going to be a few more people banged up here pretty soon.
Overstayed - caught - banged up - deported - banned.
 
So how is the Windy City?
Have you found Richard Gere's ranch yet?

So far so good.

I think they should also do a " Brainless Abroad" , for obvious reasons.

[Soutpeel]

I think they should also do a " Brainless Abroad" , for obvious reasons.

A series like that could run longer than Coronation street or Emmadale farm
The first 5 years could focus on Thailand alone...

 

Just think of the episode titles:

 

" She's different"

"Sin Sot"

" does she love me or my money"

" She has brother who stays with us lot"

" I married a Hi So princess"

"Thai's are racist, xenophobes"

" But I am a Farang !"

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Soutpeel

[mrtoad]

That would be just the appetisers, along with

"I've been living illegally in Thailand without a visa for 3 years, will I have a problem at immigration"

Oh, and some of colabamumbais stories.....

[bannork]

The programmes I've seen the folks are banged up all over the world, not just in Thailand,but most seem to get out after a few years.Nearly all the smugglers strike one as your average Joe, living a mundane, routine life when suddenly a friend of a friend appears offering the good life, jet setting, 5 star hotels, champagne on ice. The fools fall for the 'glamour, get rich quick mentality' but when the reality of what they have to do sinks in, it's too late to back out,the heavies have their passport, they know where they live, etc. Time and again the mules say they'd like to renege on the deal but they have no choice. The die is cast.

For me it's interesting because 90% of the mules are not hardened crooks, they're your average citizen, yet suddenly they're taking enormous risks with their lives. Perhaps they need to introduce classes in school, ' Beware of those bringing gifts'.

 

 

 

[robertthebruce]

Yes I know they all claim to be innocent, but a few that I have watched they carried the drugs inside there body ?? I mean, how can you be innocent doing that, ??? They KNEW what they were doing, and more the fool them for doing that...

No sympathy, if they were stuck here, there is other options to get home, Embassy would be a good start.

[mrtoad]

Yes I know they all claim to be innocent, but a few that I have watched they carried the drugs inside there body ?? I mean, how can you be innocent doing that, ??? They KNEW what they were doing, and more the fool them for doing that...

No sympathy, if they were stuck here, there is other options to get home, Embassy would be a good start.

I tend to agree, and in particular people from supposed Developed countries have far more options in life, than say a peasant from China or wherever.

Most of these people do it, because they are greedy for the money. However, I've known several "smugglers" who actually do it for the buzz, not just for the cash. Ultimately, if the offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

[bannork]

Yes I know they all claim to be innocent, but a few that I have watched they carried the drugs inside there body ?? I mean, how can you be innocent doing that, ??? They KNEW what they were doing, and more the fool them for doing that...

No sympathy, if they were stuck here, there is other options to get home, Embassy would be a good start.

They're utterly foolish but I can't help but have sympathy for many of them for as I said, they're not your hardened criminal.but simply ordinary folk who couldn't resist temptation, greedy. 

The criminal who decides he is prepared to use violence to get what he wants, ie an armed robber, is one type of criminal,an anti social,psychopathic type in my mind.

But the guy or couple who decide on a one off smuggling operation are in a much milder category in my view, although what they're smuggling maybe very dangerous, ie heroin.They're foolish but not evil.

[tx22cb]

I've seen a few episodes (not only about Thailand).

In most episodes, the charge is drug smuggling (never visa over-stay!).

In most cases, the foreigner (aka Westerner) is either guilty as sin, or is hopelessly naive.

In most episodes, the inmate does not serve the full length of the sentence - a few escape, many have their sentences reduced.

 

Drug smugglers can gamble all they want .... they can earn $10k, but most are aware that the penalty in Thailand can be a firing squad.

[ivan96822]

An excellent show, LOCKED UP ABROAD.

Coincidentally, the Bankok episode is by far my personal favorite...