Huge Fines On Arrival

[endure]

I have seen the British blatant disregard for customs limits at the old booze run to France. Very sickening to watch. They seem to consider it a kind of game.

It is. Smuggling has been a great British game for 300 years. Pity the poor excise man caught on his own when the the Mayfield, Groombridge or Hawkhurst gangs were about. The Hawkhurst gang could raise 500 armed men in an hour if needs be.

[opothai]

I have seen the British blatant disregard for customs limits at the old booze run to France. Very sickening to watch. They seem to consider it a kind of game. When anyone knowingly exceeds a stated quota in Thailand or anywhere else they should not start complaining when they are caught. The fine seems entirely reasonable to me. Also do they expect that this quantity of cigarettes is only for personal use? I don't believe it and nor should anyone else. I would suggest they have a looming health problem as well as an attitude problem. There will be absolutely no doubt that they gave the authorities some lip. As a footnote, the British are the well recognised as the biggest bunch of complainers on the planet. Sometimes sad to be one myself.

i can understand the laws on arrival in thailand as they are set for that country and should be adhered to.

as for the uk well the govmt got greedy with vat on ciggies and alchohol, while stating we are part of europe so the smuggling as you call it is not smuggling in my eyes just the govmt being greedy.

the laws about bringing ciggies in from thailand are crystal clear, so do it at your peril, but from europe the laws are open to interpretation imho.

as for british being the biggest whingers, i'll moan about that comment

[OneeyedJohn]

Cor blimey O riley some people need to lighten up.

Being a Brit but not a whinger as referred to above and having lived above all the smugglers tunnels on the south coast we used to regard smuggling if u must call it that as a national pastime. I was one of those white vans that regularly went to Tobacco Road in France for a regular stock up. Four people meant 4 X the allowance.

When I relocated back from Holland in the late 80's, I arrived by car at Dover customs with a whole load of half open bottles of booze ( thinking they didn't count ) plus the normal allowance in every department ( Wine , Spirits, Beer, cigarettes ). They ( Customs ) emptied the car and piled it all up in a small room in front of me. The two piles of Duty Free and Dutiable were impressive, and the officer kindly offered me the choice of paying the duty or having it confiscated.

, whilst smiling all the time.

Very fair minded chaps in my view

[steveromagnino]

Interesting question......and a litle bird told me that King Power is owned by the family and servants of a certain recently deposed leader ?? Is this true ??

Little birdy lek lek him talking cr%p, King Power him company listed in New York and him is be have family large large already to own the share, him family Raksriaksorn if I am remember correctleee.

For sure some corruption mahk mahk in how him got rights to airport and why him expand to 2X allowed space in lease, but anyway King Power bid against Central and won againfor new airport so maybe him is have sub deal with someone who have square head.

King power him not selling fake stuff, someone else in this thread, him listen to gossip too mutt.

Man with buree why him complain? Break law, custom him do job and can pay fine for be stupid and break law mahk mahk. We not know him how dumb, but can guess. If him can cheat way through, him same same Houdini.

Pay fine for jao por custom or pay fine to government same same punishment, why some people complain him do crime must do thyme.

Airport joke about custom dog

customs agent 1 - my dog him have no nose

customs agent 2 - how him can smell?

customs agent 1 - him smell very bad same same poo and kee.

[steveromagnino]

Airport joke about custom dog

customs agent 1 - my dog him have no nose

customs agent 2 - how him can smell?

customs agent 1 - him smell very bad same same poo and kee.

Alternate version....

customs agent 1 - him smell bad mahk mahk just like stinking backpacker from Full Moon Party.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Just to follow up, I came into Thailand through Suvarnabhumi last week. Passing through customs seemed pretty normal to me, compared to my previous experiences at Don Muang. Was the original post possibly a result of spot enforcement?

God knows.I'm scared to post here in case I get criticised for my spolling!.

<deleted> is SPOLLING ?

[tony19690]

I was at the airport yesterday for a flight to Manchester via Doha when i heard someone, a part time uk police officer say he had around 10 sleeves when he arrived went through immigration and was stopped getting into his taxi.

He was asked to go to the main police station in bangkok were he was for 9 hrs told to pay 35.000 baht in cash he also had cigars and 2 litres of whiskey which they said he could keep.

He belived the fine to be around 350% of the value of each cig.

He belived they were informed from the uk, via his boarding card and waited for him to pass through immigration before arresting him ??????.

Someone within thailand is looking very rich

[orchis]

Landed three times , twice from Amsterdam, once from S'pore, didnt get stopped and didnt see anyone else being stopped,

maybe they single out flights from UK for a BIG success rate in finding contraband?

Edited October 27, 2006 by orchis

[Muk]

I am a cigar smoker. Anyone knows how many cigars I am allowed to bring in?

[Maestro]

I am a cigar smoker. Anyone knows how many cigars I am allowed to bring in?

250 grams of cigars

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

Maestro

[cwilliam]

A group of five friends arrived at the new airport two days ago for their well earned one month holiday in Pattaya. Four of them being smokers, and not liking the brands avialable in Thailand decided to bring a reasonable supply of their own cigs from the duty free in England. O.K. 10 sleeves each might be excessive but they were purely for their own use, plus maybe a few packets for me , hopefully.

After being searched the five lads were dutifully wisked away to some police station approx half an hour away where they had all the cigs taken off them and a fine of 3,000 (Three thousand pounds) deducted from their wallets.

Given the choice of pay or go directly to jail (Whether Bluffing or not ) the lads coughed up and after five hours were let go to continue on their journey to Patters.

Another family of four (Man ,wife and two young kids ) were fined 1,000 pounds and not having enough money to continue their holiday got the next flight home.

Could this be another money making scam from the customs. Surley the duty on fifty sleeves of cigs can't be that high. Don't get me wrong, they new they had exeeded the limit but three grand is not a nice way to start your hols.

TIT the land of smiles

Just be carefull lads

Excessive?Would you do that in your own country?I hope they jail you all!Makes it hard on the ones that play by the rules!

[samran]

I was at the airport yesterday for a flight to Manchester via Doha when i heard someone, a part time uk police officer say he had around 10 sleeves when he arrived went through immigration and was stopped getting into his taxi.

He was asked to go to the main police station in bangkok were he was for 9 hrs told to pay 35.000 baht in cash he also had cigars and 2 litres of whiskey which they said he could keep.

He belived the fine to be around 350% of the value of each cig.

He belived they were informed from the uk, via his boarding card and waited for him to pass through immigration before arresting him ??????.

Someone within thailand is looking very rich

as opposed to the smugglers you mean?

As for the fines, they are based on the real and very high tariff rates that Thailand has to protect certain industries.

[DDIM]

This is 1st hand experience.

In May 2006 I was travelling to BKK Don Muang via Dubai. My wife purchased 2 cartons of 1,000 cigarettes for herself and her father who was also travelling.

We honestly never gave the customs limits a thought when the purchase was made and the purpose was to take them to Thailand for our holiday and the remainder were to be taken home with them at the end of the holiday.

As we walked through BKK airport a "civilian" advised my mother in law, who was pushing the luggage trolley with a Dubai duty free bag in full view, that she should split the cigs up because the customs would confiscate them. I was not present at this time - lagging behind.

The "civilian" was in fact a plain clothes Customs spotter and he watched as the cigarette cartons were split up between the 4 of us.

We foolishly passed through nothing to declare and were waiting in the arrival hall for our taxi driver when 6 Customs officers pounced. They were in civvies with the uniform hidden below the jackets.

They recovered the cigarettes, minus 1 carton of 200 cigs, so that totalled 90 packets of 20.

They wanted to arrest my mother in law (72 years old and a non smoker) for being in possession of the cigarettes despite the fact they were now all split up. My wife volunteered to be arrested and the Customs agreed. They took her to an airport Police office, where she signed about 20 sheets of paper written in Thai and after 50 minutes they emerged and said that she was to be taken to Customs HQ in Bangkok to be fined.

Negotiation ensued and the Customs officer agreed to travel with us in our taxi to the HQ.

I offered to pay the fine to him personally, but he was not interested in any way.

On arrival, my wife was taken into the building by the officer. He allowed me to accompany her without any problems.

She was taken to an office and a man in civilian clothing was informed of the quantity of cigarettes seized. He then told us we were to be fined 31,995 Baht. I made a quick calculation and worked out that this was in the region of £500 pounds.

I immediately thought I was being scammed big time and protested accordingly. I refused to pay it and the man told us that we would need to see his boss.

We were taken downstairs and presented to a uniformed Customs officer, whose name badge identified him as a senior officer.

He confirmed the amount and I again refused to pay. I told him politely that he was trying to obtain money from me illegally and the cost of the fine was outrageous and excessive.

He was very polite and patient and wrote some figures down for me. I have the paper and copy the figures from it.

He said that there were 2 tariff multipliers for fines.

I don't know what the figures mean but he wrote 45 x 0.79 = 35.55 tax per box.

35.55 x 10 times = 355.50 tax per box.

He told us that the calculations given were for the lower tariff.

So, the low rate was 355.50 Baht per packet of 20 and the high rate given was 533.25 per packet of 20.

He accepted that we had been negligent in bringing the cigarettes in as opposed to bringing them in for resale etc and as such we were being fined the lower tariff.

That equated to a fine of 31,995 Baht. (Higher rate was 47,992 Baht)

We tried to negotiate this down using every tactic known to me, without success. I told him that we didn't have the money (we didn't). He told us that they would escort us to an ATM which was close to their office and we could withdraw the funds from there.

My wife refused and asked what would happen if she failed to pay the fine. She was told that she would be kept in custody, presented to a court next day and then fined. The original fine would still stand and it would still need to be paid. He also said that her passport would be stamped.

As we were in the process of buying a house, that was not an option we wanted to consider. He helpfully advised that if we paid the fine, my wifes passport would NOT be stamped.

The Customs officer showed us what looked like an official handwritten ledger and identified nationalities and fines imposed. At this point an Englishman emerged from an adjoining office and confirmed that he was being fined a similar amount for a similar quantity of cigarettes.

That confirmed to us that we had no option but to comply.

We were escorted to the ATM amd met the Englishman in the process of withdrawing his money. We done the same, in 2 transactions and returned to the HQ.

We paid up and were given an official looking pink coloured receipt. It has a winged Thai style lion crest in the top centre and spaces for handwritten details.

It is written in Thai but my wifes details are in English, as is the amount of the fine. My wife was asked to sign the receipt after it had been completed and the receipt was then stamped.

My wife had her passport returned to her and we were allowed to leave the building minus the cigarettes which were all confiscated. A sign in the cashiers office advised that this would be the case.

The above info is purely for the information of this thread and to provide a blow for blow account. This has obviously been going on for some time and is not unique to the new airport.

We were inadvertantly in the wrong and the Customs guys were in the right.

They were polite and respectful at all times, so apart from the amount of the fine, which we thought was excessive, we have nothing to complain about.

[Muk]

I am a cigar smoker. Anyone knows how many cigars I am allowed to bring in?

250 grams of cigars

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

Maestro

Thanks, and about how many could that be?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I am a cigar smoker. Anyone knows how many cigars I am allowed to bring in?

250 grams of cigars

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

Maestro

Thanks, and about how many could that be?

Anything else you want ?

[Maestro]

250 grams of cigars

Thanks, and about how many could that be?

250/w = n

where w = weight per cigar in grams, n = number of cigars

Please note that there is no international standard for the weight of a cigar, i.e. it may vary from one brand to the next, but if you were a cigar smoker you would already know that.

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

Maestro

[somewhat puzzled]

Last week I arrived at BKK with 4 cartons of cigarettes (Winston brand, which is not longer available here) and presented them at the customs willing to pay the duty. First they simply wanted to confiscate 3 out of 4 cartons. I insisted that I really want to pay the duty and asked how much I have to pay. They said that´s possible to enter the country with more than 200 cigarettes and I have to hand over them the other cigarettes. I refused and repeated that I didn´t want to smuggle them and I only try to respect the law. Finally they said that I should put the boxes somewhere deep in my luggage and let me pass.

Although I saved some money this time, the situation remains somewhat unsatisfactory (especially because I´m a pretty heavy smoker and enter the country several times every year).

Is it really not possible to make a proper declaration and to pay the duty or where these guys simply too lazy to to some paperworks (or hoped for some cheap cigarettes.)

[Totster]

The first thing that i got asked when going through customes at the airport a couple of weeks ago was " how many cigarettes do you have ?"

be careful

totster

[skippybangkok]

This is 1st hand experience.

In May 2006 I was travelling to BKK Don Muang via Dubai. My wife purchased 2 cartons of 1,000 cigarettes for herself and her father who was also travelling.

We honestly never gave the customs limits a thought when the purchase was made and the purpose was to take them to Thailand for our holiday and the remainder were to be taken home with them at the end of the holiday.

As we walked through BKK airport a "civilian" advised my mother in law, who was pushing the luggage trolley with a Dubai duty free bag in full view, that she should split the cigs up because the customs would confiscate them. I was not present at this time - lagging behind.

The "civilian" was in fact a plain clothes Customs spotter and he watched as the cigarette cartons were split up between the 4 of us.

We foolishly passed through nothing to declare and were waiting in the arrival hall for our taxi driver when 6 Customs officers pounced. They were in civvies with the uniform hidden below the jackets.

They recovered the cigarettes, minus 1 carton of 200 cigs, so that totalled 90 packets of 20.

They wanted to arrest my mother in law (72 years old and a non smoker) for being in possession of the cigarettes despite the fact they were now all split up. My wife volunteered to be arrested and the Customs agreed. They took her to an airport Police office, where she signed about 20 sheets of paper written in Thai and after 50 minutes they emerged and said that she was to be taken to Customs HQ in Bangkok to be fined.

Negotiation ensued and the Customs officer agreed to travel with us in our taxi to the HQ.

I offered to pay the fine to him personally, but he was not interested in any way.

On arrival, my wife was taken into the building by the officer. He allowed me to accompany her without any problems.

She was taken to an office and a man in civilian clothing was informed of the quantity of cigarettes seized. He then told us we were to be fined 31,995 Baht. I made a quick calculation and worked out that this was in the region of £500 pounds.

I immediately thought I was being scammed big time and protested accordingly. I refused to pay it and the man told us that we would need to see his boss.

We were taken downstairs and presented to a uniformed Customs officer, whose name badge identified him as a senior officer.

He confirmed the amount and I again refused to pay. I told him politely that he was trying to obtain money from me illegally and the cost of the fine was outrageous and excessive.

He was very polite and patient and wrote some figures down for me. I have the paper and copy the figures from it.

He said that there were 2 tariff multipliers for fines.

I don't know what the figures mean but he wrote 45 x 0.79 = 35.55 tax per box.

35.55 x 10 times = 355.50 tax per box.

He told us that the calculations given were for the lower tariff.

So, the low rate was 355.50 Baht per packet of 20 and the high rate given was 533.25 per packet of 20.

He accepted that we had been negligent in bringing the cigarettes in as opposed to bringing them in for resale etc and as such we were being fined the lower tariff.

That equated to a fine of 31,995 Baht. (Higher rate was 47,992 Baht)

We tried to negotiate this down using every tactic known to me, without success. I told him that we didn't have the money (we didn't). He told us that they would escort us to an ATM which was close to their office and we could withdraw the funds from there.

My wife refused and asked what would happen if she failed to pay the fine. She was told that she would be kept in custody, presented to a court next day and then fined. The original fine would still stand and it would still need to be paid. He also said that her passport would be stamped.

As we were in the process of buying a house, that was not an option we wanted to consider. He helpfully advised that if we paid the fine, my wifes passport would NOT be stamped.

The Customs officer showed us what looked like an official handwritten ledger and identified nationalities and fines imposed. At this point an Englishman emerged from an adjoining office and confirmed that he was being fined a similar amount for a similar quantity of cigarettes.

That confirmed to us that we had no option but to comply.

We were escorted to the ATM amd met the Englishman in the process of withdrawing his money. We done the same, in 2 transactions and returned to the HQ.

We paid up and were given an official looking pink coloured receipt. It has a winged Thai style lion crest in the top centre and spaces for handwritten details.

It is written in Thai but my wifes details are in English, as is the amount of the fine. My wife was asked to sign the receipt after it had been completed and the receipt was then stamped.

My wife had her passport returned to her and we were allowed to leave the building minus the cigarettes which were all confiscated. A sign in the cashiers office advised that this would be the case.

The above info is purely for the information of this thread and to provide a blow for blow account. This has obviously been going on for some time and is not unique to the new airport.

We were inadvertantly in the wrong and the Customs guys were in the right.

They were polite and respectful at all times, so apart from the amount of the fine, which we thought was excessive, we have nothing to complain about.

Interesting. Dont doubt that it happens, but seems to be a ton of money.... maybe give up smoking

Been flying in and out for about 14- 15 years, never once been stopped. Used to wonder why, and its clear that if you have a normal suitcase and carry on bag ( "clean configuration" ) you never ( in my case ) get stopped. The people that tend to get stopped are the ones i see which have plastic bags everywhere (which means advertising " I bought it in duty free" in most cases ) or people with big carton boxes.

On the rare occaision I have bought something, I usually moved it to my carry on bag and dsicarded the plastic bag before getting off the plane. ( and even then, was in the limits, just did not want the hassle).

As one of the other OP's said, they are too lazy normally to write documents ( unless given a reason ), and actually declaring it and insisting on paying would in many cases make em say "move on". I always ask to be fined with police for traffic related isssues (real or perceived) and they move u on normally when they cant get any benefits. By declaring, you pay the tax, they dont get any free ciggies, so whats in it for them ? nothing..........."Move along sir"

Edited November 1, 2006 by skippybangkok

[sriracha john]

The people that tend to get stopped are the ones i see which have plastic bags everywhere (which means advertising " I bought it in duty free" in most cases ) or people with big carton boxes.

Hmmmm... perhaps I might have to rethink my landing in LOS next time...

[Scott]

I'd be interested to know what they do with all those cigarettes. Somewhere there is probably a shop that sells these imported brands at a greatly reduced price!

[PREM-R]

I'd be interested to know what they do with all those cigarettes. Somewhere there is probably a shop that sells these imported brands at a greatly reduced price!

Or perhaps the incidence of lung cancer/respiratory illness in Thai Customs Officials is the highest of any individual group of workers in the world

[bacwy1]

I am coming in on the 22nd and I am coming with two laptops. I run some websites so I use one for personal use and one for the sites. They are both out of package, does any one forsee any problems? I also am planing on coming in with 4 or 5 rolls of chewing tobacco.Each roll has 10 cans at 34.02g or 1.2ozs. They say right on the label U.S. Smokless tobacco company. I go through about a can and a half to 2 cans a day. Does the law only apply to smoking tobacco or to all tobacco? I could not find a single place that carried it at all in Pattaya or Bangkok last time that I was there. Would it be wise to contact the Thai embassy here in Los Angeles and get something in writing before I go?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Two comps for a tourist and a sh*tload of baccy. Oh yes ... LA is bound to write you a letter

[Briggsy]

I have some old information stating that you are only allowed to bring 1 litre of wine into LOS. Is this still the case? I couldn't find any newer info. Didn't look too hard though.

[Maestro]

I have some old information stating that you are only allowed to bring 1 litre of wine into LOS. Is this still the case? I couldn't find any newer info.

From the website of Thai Customs:

Duty Free Allowance

The duty free allowance will be applied to accompanied personal effects up to Bath 10,000 worth if i) the items are intended for your own personal or professional uses; ii) the quantity are reasonable; and iii) the items are not subject to prohibition or restriction.

However, there are limits on the amount of alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, cigars and smoking tobacco to which you may include in your duty free personal exemption as follows:

• 200 cigarettes or 250 grams of cigars or smoking tobacco

• 1 litre of spirituous liquor.

Personal effects do not include motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts regardless of the length of time used and owned.

As you can see, wine is not mentioned separately. In another post, it has been suggested that is falls under “spirituous liquor”, as it contains alcohol.

If you wish to seek clarification, here is the contact form for Thai Customs.

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

Maestro

[joinme2leave]

hmmmmm...i wonder.....this official thai customs website says (lit.)....SMOKING tobacco...right?

so, CHEWING tobacco....no limit???

am asking as i will bring at least 50 cans (50 grams each) of swedish SNUS which isn't smoking tobacco at all (neither chewing tobacco....but it contains tobacco).

any clues....(i doubt) ???

[dr_Pat_Pong]

hmmmmm...i wonder.....this official thai customs website says (lit.)....SMOKING tobacco...right?

so, CHEWING tobacco....no limit???

am asking as i will bring at least 50 cans (50 grams each) of swedish SNUS which isn't smoking tobacco at all (neither chewing tobacco....but it contains tobacco).

any clues....(i doubt) ???

I reckon you'll find that tobacco is tobacco.

[Maestro]

I reckon you'll find that tobacco is tobacco.

Not for Customs, it seems.

Curious as to why the Thai Customs website mentions “smoking tobacco”, I looked it up in the harmonised tariff system and found these separate listings:

2403 Other manufactured tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; ‘homogenised’ or ‘reconstituted’ tobacco; tobacco extracts and essences:

2403 10 − Smoking tobacco, whether or not containing tobacco substitutes in any proportion:

2403 10 10 − − In immediate packings of a net content not exceeding 500 g

2403 10 90 − − Other

2403 91 00 − − ‘Homogenised’ or ‘reconstituted’ tobacco

2403 99 − − Other:

2403 99 10 − − − Chewing tobacco and snuff

2403 99 90 − − − Other

(Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/e...8en00010886.pdf)

The essential question is, of course, whether the Customs official on duty when joinme2leave passes will know this distinction and apply it correctly.

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

Maestro

Edited November 9, 2006 by maestro

[joinme2leave]

@ maestro: hehe, i doubt he gonna know what it is...but i rather prefer AVOIDING any trouble....