Swampy security - or lack of it

[Bangkok Barry]

I flew from Suvarnabhumi to Dubai on Thursday. As I waited to go through the hand luggage screening I saw a security staff member walk through and as she did so she discretely handed another security staff member 1000 baht. Once I'd gone through myself I approached the security supervisor desk located nearby and reported what I had seen. It took me a couple of minutes to get my point across, but then they called the recipient over. After a couple more minutes of confusion he simply told them that she owed him the money. Incredibly, that was taken at face value and nothing more was going to be done. Perhaps it was an innocent transaction, but incredibly stupid and naive given where it occurred, but maybe not. Security certainly didn't care.

[KhunBENQ]

? So what's your point ?

Don't you think they have a private life?

If a passenger hands 1000 Baht to the security staff, yes that would be suspicious.

[Bangkok Barry]

? So what's your point ?

Don't you think they have a private life?

If a passenger hands 1000 Baht to the security staff, yes that would be suspicious.

I'm glad you aren't in charge of security. Anyone handing money to security staff as they pass through is NOT okay. It is just plain stupid. If they know each other - the private life you talk of - then plenty of time to hand the money over another time. Like when off-duty and not somewhere where it could be seen as highly suspicious.

[swampdonkey]

? So what's your point ?

Don't you think they have a private life?

If a passenger hands 1000 Baht to the security staff, yes that would be suspicious.

I'm glad you aren't in charge of security. Anyone handing money to security staff as they pass through is NOT okay. It is just plain stupid. If they know each other - the private life you talk of - then plenty of time to hand the money over another time. Like when off-duty and not somewhere where it could be seen as highly suspicious.[/

Apart from being paranoid.

What actually is you point ?

[Scouse Twoccer]

? So what's your point ?

Don't you think they have a private life?

If a passenger hands 1000 Baht to the security staff, yes that would be suspicious.

I'm glad you aren't in charge of security. Anyone handing money to security staff as they pass through is NOT okay. It is just plain stupid. If they know each other - the private life you talk of - then plenty of time to hand the money over another time. Like when off-duty and not somewhere where it could be seen as highly suspicious.[/

Apart from being paranoid.

What actually is you point ?

Maybe he has a latent desire to be a security officer or a desire to have a much more thorough security check next time.

[Don Mega]

How do you know it was 1000b ?

[richard_smith237]

What an asinine question !

Next you'll be asking the Op to prove it !

As the op made a thread on the subject a safe assumption would be that he saw the 1000 b note!

[richard_smith237]

Seeing someone hand over a 1000 b note before passing through a security check point is concerning. More so if it was a general member of the public.

However, in this case it was simply another member of the security team and as such not really an issue.

It is more a typical case of people doing something without thinking.., clumsily bumbling through their day....

[Don Mega]

What an asinine question !

Next you'll be asking the Op to prove it !

As the op made a thread on the subject a safe assumption would be that he saw the 1000 b note!

Not asinine at all. If it was a discrete handover as the OP says how would he have identified it was a 1000b note ?

Or maybe the handover was not discrete at all.

[Bangkok Barry]

I really despair at some of the comments on this site. Still, everyone is different I suppose, and has different views and standards. 1 - I was close enough to recognise a 1000 baht note, even though it was half hidden in the cupped hand. 2 - I would question why anyone would give a security guard money as they pass through security. I don't understand why anyone would see that as acceptable and above suspicion. 3 - Security then accepted the recipient's excuse as the truth. In the Real World where they have security that doesn't take chances the person who handed over the money would be tracked down for her side of the story to see if it matched his, and they would both be lectured on the stupidity or carelessness of what they did without considering how it appeared.

[Rumblecat]

I don't understand- did you think one member of security staff was bribing the other for an easy pass through security? Why would they hand over the money in public then- and in view of the security camera if they both worked together- ?

[HLover]

I flew from Suvarnabhumi to Dubai on Thursday. As I waited to go through the hand luggage screening I saw a security staff member walk through and as she did so she discretely handed another security staff member 1000 baht. Once I'd gone through myself I approached the security supervisor desk located nearby and reported what I had seen. It took me a couple of minutes to get my point across, but then they called the recipient over. After a couple more minutes of confusion he simply told them that she owed him the money. Incredibly, that was taken at face value and nothing more was going to be done. Perhaps it was an innocent transaction, but incredibly stupid and naive given where it occurred, but maybe not. Security certainly didn't care.

Chicken little the sky is falling....

What is more suspicious? A thousand baht bill being passed amongst people, or a beady eyed Caucasian looking around suspiciously?

[Bangkok Barry]

I'm sure nothing was amiss, but my immediate reaction was that it wasn't right. I could be really paranoid and suggest that maybe the one who paid was wearing a fake uniform - plenty of that goes on in Thailand, or people displaying 'Police' on their clothes or vehicles when they are not. I'm not going that far. As for CCTV, most Thais seem not yet to have caught on to the fact they could be filmed, like the police who call in at a business to collect their monthly protection fee or are making street collections. One was seen doing so a couple of days ago and it was shown on another site. What does concern me was that it wasn't investigated properly, but that would have meant doing some work instead of chatting at their desk.

It seems from comments here that I took the incident more seriously than it warranted. Fair enough.

[Gsxrnz]

I've landed at Swampy about 25 times in the past 7 years. Admittedly I have the Emirates flight that lands at 1am, but I have yet to see any customs security staff.

The first time I hung around for 5 minutes thinking I must have somehow got to the wrong area and was looking around for the right place to queue to get checked.

Then I figured it out and went out the exit with no screening whatsoever. To this day, I'm still waiting to see one and have never had my luggage screened - I think they are like the yeti, a bit of a myth.

[Thian]

I also see our security giving/receiving money to/from motocy taxi's...they do it secretly though which worries me.....

I think they should do it totally open, why have to hide it?

[swampdonkey]

I also see our security giving/receiving money to/from motocy taxi's...they do it secretly though which worries me.....

I think they should do it totally open, why have to hide it?

If it worries you so much, Go ask them what they are doing.

[Thian]

I also see our security giving/receiving money to/from motocy taxi's...they do it secretly though which worries me.....

I think they should do it totally open, why have to hide it?

If it worries you so much, Go ask them what they are doing.

You think that would help? There's a lot of drugs in my area, they even shoot at the police who rarely comes in this area. We have the most dangerous street of BKK very close. I don't want to have problems there or i can't drive there anymore.

But maybe the security just asks the motocy taxi's to shop for them, medicine or so...who knows?

[blackcab]

...I have yet to see any customs security staff.

...I'm still waiting to see one and have never had my luggage screened - I think they are like the yeti, a bit of a myth.

I've seen them. They have unfashionably large feet.

[blackcab]

I flew from Suvarnabhumi to Dubai on Thursday. As I waited to go through the hand luggage screening I saw a security staff member walk through and as she did so she discretely handed another security staff member 1000 baht. Once I'd gone through myself I approached the security supervisor desk located nearby and reported what I had seen. It took me a couple of minutes to get my point across, but then they called the recipient over. After a couple more minutes of confusion he simply told them that she owed him the money. Incredibly, that was taken at face value and nothing more was going to be done. Perhaps it was an innocent transaction, but incredibly stupid and naive given where it occurred, but maybe not. Security certainly didn't care.

Does flying make you anxious by any chance?

Edited February 14, 2016 by blackcab

[Bangkok Barry]

Does flying make you anxious by any chance?

I've flown many hundreds of times. For 10 years I flew every weekend from one work location to another. I've flown on everything from a plane that lands on grass to a seaplane to Concorde to a hot air balloon to an A380. The only thing I still have to fly in is an airship, which I'd like to do to 'complete the set'. So, to answer your question, no. Bored, often. Not anxious.

[Rumblecat]

It seems from comments here that I took the incident more seriously than it warranted. Fair enough.

Sure, but on the flip-side though, something serious happens in an airport- a security breach, corruption- and you'd get people saying "How come nobody noticed?! How come nobody said anything?!"

It's a lose-lose situation basically. Especially in the cheery world of ThaiVisa

[SoiBiker]

I also see our security giving/receiving money to/from motocy taxi's...they do it secretly though which worries me.....

I think they should do it totally open, why have to hide it?

If it worries you so much, Go ask them what they are doing.

You think that would help? There's a lot of drugs in my area, they even shoot at the police who rarely comes in this area. We have the most dangerous street of BKK very close. I don't want to have problems there or i can't drive there anymore.

But maybe the security just asks the motocy taxi's to shop for them, medicine or so...who knows?

Which street is that?