Customs screening at Suvarnabhumi Airport

[david555]

4 minutes ago, Monkeyrobot said:

So how do I get my steaks in ? 

 

 

Steaks could put you even in jail

, meat from any country affected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases. The measure covers meat from all EU Member States and any other infected countries. Those carrying such diseased meat will be fined THB 40,000 and/or imprisoned for up to two years.

(From the customs department)

 

[bazza73]

I bring in lots of Vegemite. Have never been stopped or questioned about it. In any case, how would they assess duty on a product which is only made in Australia?

If they confiscated it to take home for their own use, I would love to be a fly on the wall when they taste it.

[thailandsam]

I came in to Swampy on Friday last week I just walked through they were trying to scan everyone. most people walked around the scanner.

[bradleyc93]

I think it depends alot on the time you arrive.

[amjamj]

7 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Came thru mid March at 1030 pm and the usual bored looks and all arrivals strolling by with nobody being screened. That said however, know a Thai gal with a German husband and she got randomly screened last year and had excessive bottles of wine. They confiscated all of it. She took great pride in the fact that she insisted on seeing the bottles emptied, as she assumed that otherwise those 2 cases would be going home with with those doing the confiscating.

 

 

But no fine ?

 

 

[Enoon]

 

They are interested in booze, drugs and cigarettes.

 

They are not interested in your vitamin tablets, your high strength fibre laxative syrup, your tea bags, your Belgian chocolate or your extra mature cheddar cheese.

 

(Or my muesli)

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by Enoon

[Skeptic7]

8 hours ago, amjamj said:

 

 

But no fine ?

 

 

If memory serves, she  was able to talk them out of the fine or greatly reduced. Tend to doubt a foreigner would be so fortunate.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Skeptic7

[sawadeeken]

14 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

They are interested in booze, drugs and cigarettes.

 

They are not interested in your vitamin tablets, your high strength fibre laxative syrup, your tea bags, your Belgian chocolate or your extra mature cheddar cheese.

 

(Or my muesli)

 

 

 

In the past year or so they may have changed something about vitamins...... I friend ordered some vitamins sent by post and they were intercepted at postal customs he had to go in person to collect them but was told that they could not be allowed into Thailand and my friend was advised by customs that a new law was passed that ALL vitamins had to be ordered from only one Thai Company. I don't have any personal experience but I can believe that some 'retired' officials family member has been granted a company licence to do that 'vitamin import' business and don't like competition.......... after all.... TIT

[bkkcanuck8]

On 4/3/2017 at 7:37 AM, outlaw11wa said:

You would have it confiscated an destroyed if you tried to bring it into Australia. Not arrested but fined for not declaring it on your entry declaration. Then possibly interviewed to see what else you were hiding from authorities. Thaailand is generally very liberal with what they allow you to bring into the country compared to other nations.

And in all likelihood a note would be placed on your file -- and every single time you arrived back in Australia from then on you would go through more scrutiny....  

[steffi]

Folks are suggesting that you cannot have more than 20k baht of goods on you and if you do you must declare or it pay a heavy penalty with possible jail sentence.

Edited April 5, 2017 by steffi

[bubba]

In the past year or so they may have changed something about vitamins...... I friend ordered some vitamins sent by post and they were intercepted at postal customs he had to go in person to collect them but was told that they could not be allowed into Thailand and my friend was advised by customs that a new law was passed that ALL vitamins had to be ordered from only one Thai Company. I don't have any personal experience but I can believe that some 'retired' officials family member has been granted a company licence to do that 'vitamin import' business and don't like competition.......... after all.... TIT

Never encountered that and I order supplements fro iHerb regularly. I usually keep the value low so that the post office doesn't hold it for customs duties. Last month they did hold it, I paid the duty, collected my box and went home with my vitamins.

You don't suppose that there was something in your friend's box that the post office guy fancied, do you?

[sawadeeken]

9 hours ago, bubba said:

 

Never encountered that and I order supplements fro iHerb regularly. I usually keep the value low so that the post office doesn't hold it for customs duties. Last month they did hold it, I paid the duty, collected my box and went home with my vitamins.

You don't suppose that there was something in your friend's box that the post office guy fancied, do you?

 

I'm not sure.......... Yours is the first thing I've heard suggesting that vitamins can still come in. Have you also ordered anything classified as 'vitamins'? Or just Herbal Supplements?

[bubba]

I'm not sure.......... Yours is the first thing I've heard suggesting that vitamins can still come in. Have you also ordered anything classified as 'vitamins'? Or just Herbal Supplements?

Yes, Vitamin D3 for example.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[sawadeeken]

10 minutes ago, bubba said:

 

Yes, Vitamin D3 for example.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

 

 

Well........... That sounds like proof Positive..........

But what they told the friend about only one Thai company could bring vitamins into the country, sounded very believable since we all know..... 'TIT'

Thanks for your info.............

[bubba]

1 minute ago, sawadeeken said:

 

Well........... That sounds like proof Positive..........

But what they told the friend about only one Thai company could bring vitamins into the country, sounded very believable since we all know..... 'TIT'

Thanks for your info.............

Sure, and I have another box that should be arriving soon...let's see what happens.

 

To be honest, what they told your friend does not really seem all that plausible. I just found some info for 2015, and Thailand imported US$129 million in vitamins. With all those imports and some large businesses being part of it, I would be surprised if anyone could pull off a scheme to corner the entire vitamin import market. 

 

Here a good thread on the subject from late 2015:

 

The key take there is, keep your order small.

 

Ooops...got a bit off topic here!

[tuktuktuk]

We came through on March 22 late night.  They were x-raying every bag.  We had eight bags all at maximum weight with everything under the sun.  There was a good line forming too.  They ran them through very quickly and we grabbed them on the other side without a hiccup.  There really wasn't enough time for them to have actually viewed our luggage contents and we were on our way.  They were very nice about it.  I started hefting all the bags and he noticed that I have an injured hand so he stopped me and did it for me.  I'll bet we had $10,000 worth of stuff.  Not all new, but still valuable.

[starky]

On 01/04/2017 at 3:32 PM, siam2007 said:

my personal ratio at Suvarnabhumi in the past few years is that my luggage (mostly just one piece if I had more than one) has been screened in one out of three cases.

At DMK, I never had my luggage screened ever the few times I used it for international flights

That's bizarre. My personal ratio as an offshore worker flying here 6 times a year since 1998 is zero. I have never had a bag screened on my arrival in Thailand ever. Swampy or DM back in the day. 

[hawker9000]

We came through on March 22 late night.  They were x-raying every bag.  We had eight bags all at maximum weight with everything under the sun.  There was a good line forming too.  They ran them through very quickly and we grabbed them on the other side without a hiccup.  There really wasn't enough time for them to have actually viewed our luggage contents and we were on our way.  They were very nice about it.  I started hefting all the bags and he noticed that I have an injured hand so he stopped me and did it for me.  I'll bet we had $10,000 worth of stuff.  Not all new, but still valuable.

You mean all YOUR bags? If you had 8 of 'em that doesn't surprise, but I very much doubt they were screening everyone's bags. I've frequently come in at that hour and NEVER seen that happen. If it really was happening when you arrived, I have to think they were acting on some tip or special information. (I also think some folks see a line and instintively queue up without actually being so directed by anyone. 'Just a sign of the times.)

[tuktuktuk]

6 hours ago, hawker9000 said:

You mean all YOUR bags? If you had 8 of 'em that doesn't surprise, but I very much doubt they were screening everyone's bags. I've frequently come in at that hour and NEVER seen that happen. If it really was happening when you arrived, I have to think they were acting on some tip or special information. (I also think some folks see a line and instintively queue up without actually being so directed by anyone. 'Just a sign of the times.)

Yes, all our bags and not just us.  My wife travels heavy.  There were ten or fifteen people in line.  We tried to walk around it, as did some others, and were stopped.  That must be my tenth trip into BKK.  First time I've seen any inspection.

Edited April 7, 2017 by tuktuktuk

[hawker9000]

Yes, all our bags and not just us.  My wife travels heavy.  There were ten or fifteen people in line.  We tried to walk around it, as did some others, and were stopped.  That must be my tenth trip into BKK.  First time I've seen any inspection.

Ten or fifteen in line?? During that after-midnight peak period, that many pass through the customs checkpoint area every ten to fifteen seconds, and there are at least twice that number in a single chinese tourgroup! Clearly either they couldn't have been screening everybody or you were going through at a very off-peak time that's non-representative for whatever reason.

[tuktuktuk]

Sorry, I don't really want to debate you.  That's what I saw.  It was slow, most of the carousels weren't in use.  Probably around 12:30 am.  Pretty quick trip through immigration just before that.  We were way in the back of our plane and the last people off.  We didn't have to wait for our bags at the carousel.  They were already there and the crowd had diminished. It really wasn't a big deal.  They didn't open anyone's bags and they ran 'em through about as fast as I've seen anywhere. Maybe they were just sniffing them for something.