keestha Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 A tourist leaving Phuket by bus on January 17, told me that at the checkpoint close to the bridge, the bus was stopped and all the passengers had to show their ID. There were like about 6 westerners on the bus, and they also had to show their passports. Most of them had their passports ready, but there also was an elderly Italian couple on the bus who had their passports in their suitcases which were in the luggage department, they had to partially unpack to get them, which made the delay about 10 minutes longer. My general experience with bus passenger ID checks in border areas is that westerners are left alone, is what happened now a common thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenl Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Never heard of it happening before, but I see nothing ontoward about it. I hope the elderly couple learned to always keep valuables with them? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenBravo Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Sometimes got stopped doing the Ranong visa run. Cops wanted to see the passports of everyone in the minibus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beechbum Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Had to do it about 12 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keestha Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) My identity was checked only once, in 1993 when leaving Moh Chit bus station in Bangkok, looking not very prosperous carrying my luggage in a large size plastic bag. Oh and once again in Phuket Town in 2013 by an immigration officer, but he let me off the hook when I told him I left my passport in my car. Edited January 29, 2015 by keestha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masuk Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 As the OP said, they were only LIKE Westerners,so they had to be checked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stat088 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Was it Police or Army? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I have been checked in the southern bus station by some cheeky try it on police officers in 1999. More recently when travelling by bus from Ubon to Mo Chit the bus was stopped on route 24 close to the Cambodian border. They were looking for red shirts I beleive . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLW Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Checking your passport is ok. Stopp[ng and taking a pee test is another matter entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrjlh Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Nothing unusual here. Immigration and Police have the right anytime, any day. That applies to everyone. Ever consider they were looking for some one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbaz Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Stiff cheddar if you are on overstay and caught on the way to a border crossing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farma Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 85 - 87 I travelled phuket - Bkk more than a few times. Standard practice was for all bus passengers including farangs to be videod by police at the last checkpoint. Twice that I recall on those trips the bus was stopped at the next checkpoint on the mainland and 1 or 2 passengers were escorted off the bus by police. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travel Dude Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Stiff cheddar if you are on overstay and caught on the way to a border crossing. You shouldn't be on overstay. It's pretty simple. Why foreigners always think they can overstay, not have their visa in order etc... Let your Thai girlfriend try that in Europe and she will be banned right away for a while... up to 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypatt Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 You shouldn't be on overstay. It's pretty simple. Why foreigners always think they can overstay, not have their visa in order etc... Let your Thai girlfriend try that in Europe and she will be banned right away for a while... up to 10 years. not in the uk, your gf would be very lucky to get into the uk in the first place, our government prefers spongers from eastern Europe and terrorist muslims 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louse1953 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Passports in suitcase and in the cargo hold is a big no-no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlastikbinLina Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 85 - 87 I travelled phuket - Bkk more than a few times. Standard practice was for all bus passengers including farangs to be videod by police at the last checkpoint. Twice that I recall on those trips the bus was stopped at the next checkpoint on the mainland and 1 or 2 passengers were escorted off the bus by police. In 1984 I traveled by train from Singapore to Bangkok. After leaving Penang our first stop, if I remember correctly was Hat Yai. All passengers were told to leave their PP's at a railway office on the platform, then ordered to get back on the train and off it went. I was travelling alone in first class. About half an hour or more while the train was travelling along at speed four Thai officers came into my cabin thrust a stack of PP's in my hand and asked me to find mine. I can only assume they were checking each individual foreigner at their leisure which would have been hard to do on a narrow crowded platform. Amazing Thailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beechbum Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script> Passports in suitcase and in the cargo hold is a big no-no. Not to mention just plain stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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