Thai Customs hits back after alleged watch smugglers turn to social media

[snowgard]

13 hours ago, lovelomsak said:

Using this law many people would have to leave their cellphones at home.or some even their laptop. No gold jewelry,no expensive watches etc. 20,000 baht is not much.

Why? In normal everyone have to declare what they bring inside Thailand. Same in Europe.
But the Thai customs not check so hard as in Europe. And it looks like you can bring private things inside.

You can look a lot of videos on youtube how customs in europe handle it if you bring your own in Hongkong bought Laptop or a Designer Bag to Europe.
You have to pay full import tax, Vat and if you walked in the green channel a heavy fine also.

[fruitman]

10 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

That's just stupid

Exactly. Would be better at 200.000 baht.

 

So NOBODY should come to Thailand bringing designer clothes/purses/shoes without the receipts..No Macbooks , Ultrabooks or Nikon camera's. No musicinstruments, protheses or golden teeth, maybe pacemakers have to be declared as well?

 

Quality tourists like Thailand is begging for will go elsewhere i guess.  Is it the same in Singapore with 20.000 baht maximum?

[richard_smith237]

15 minutes ago, fruitman said:

Exactly. Would be better at 200.000 baht.

 

So NOBODY should come to Thailand bringing designer clothes/purses/shoes without the receipts..No Macbooks , Ultrabooks or Nikon camera's. No musicinstruments, protheses or golden teeth, maybe pacemakers have to be declared as well?

 

Quality tourists like Thailand is begging for will go elsewhere i guess.  Is it the same in Singapore with 20.000 baht maximum?

 

I think many countries have similar limits on the value of items brought in. 

 

The issue for me is that these regulations involve so much ambiguity there exists a possibility whereby many of us could fall foul of an overzealous customs officer. 

 

That said, common sense does appear to apply here and while this story has inflamed opinions, only one story has been presented whereby customs have behaved quite unreasonably (*earlier post regarding a 2 year old handbag). 

Edited May 18, 2017 by richard_smith237

[kannot]

13 hours ago, SABloke said:

 

There's no law stating you're not allowed to travel with personal possesions worth more than 20 000 Baht. You're not allowed to buy something overseas on a short trip and bring it back into the country without declaring it. The reason Thais get stopped more than foreigners is that they are automatically assumed to be (and usually are) residents.

 

im sure if they wanted to extract  money it would  not  matter if they were personal or  not, witness some people here bringing in a  container of their "personal things" and  still getting charged, customs are a law unto themselves

[wakeupplease]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

haha... you missed my point in that it seems your point is anyone with a luxury item deserves to lose it... 

 

So please explain why you think I deserve to lose my watch when flying in and out of Thailand ?

He is simply jealous you have 1 or more and is giving you the runaround.

 

Good watches are registered so have a date of purchase as those who have them know.

 

Maybe we should start a crowd funding to get him one, second thoughts he would only flog it.

Edited May 18, 2017 by wakeupplease

[chrisinth]

It appears that a lot of people think this is a new rule from customs. It is not.

 

It is just being highlighted because these two women were caught and decided to blab on social media. They apparently still had the sales price tags on the watches that were on their wrists and the presentation boxes in their bags. If that is the case, it looks pretty cut and dry and they deserve what they get IMO.

[ericthai]

19 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I think many countries have similar limits on the value of items brought in. 

 

The issue for me is that these regulations involve so much ambiguity there exists a possibility whereby many of us could fall foul of an overzealous customs officer. 

 

That said, common sense does appear to apply here and while this story has inflamed opinions, only one story has been presented whereby customs have behaved quite unreasonably (*earlier post regarding a 2 year old handbag). 

I agree it's just like immigration or any other govt ministry, a luck of the draw who you get if they are having a bad day or new and flexing their mussels or just dont like you. I have a good Thai friend that goes to China and buys things to sell online and in Thailand. He started out with golf clubs bring in 4-5 full sets. He would go to customs to declare them and would just end up paying 2-3K Baht "tea money" .  The issue was these girls tried to bring the watches in without paying any tax and then joked about it on facebook. I believe it they either paid the proper tax or made a "donation" they would have been ok.  

[scorecard]

On 5/18/2017 at 11:23 AM, arkom said:

They obviously didn't have the right connections, a couple months ago at the Starbucks at CDC I saw a lady with at least 10 shopping bags from LV, Chanel, Gucci and Prada ect., she was obviously there to deliver them to people who "preordered" them as there was a steady stream of people picking them up.

 

Or perhaps she sells (real or fake) brand name shopping bags?

Edited May 19, 2017 by scorecard

[gk10002000]

Isn't the idea of the law meant to apply if the goods are being brought in to Thailand permanently?  Any tourist that is by definition coming and then leaving is likely to have some expensive goods wouldn't or shouldn't have to worry about anything?  Now a retiree or expat that comes and goes, might be a bit different.  If a permanent resident then I would say the law and tariff should apply.  But most retirees are on "Extensions of stay" so by definition are not here permanently.  They should not be held liable for anything.  Of course if they are caught selling the stuff then they could be held liable. 

[TheLobster]

On ‎18‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 5:02 AM, richard_smith237 said:

This potentially opens up a whole can of worms for any regular traveller... 

 

Any watch of note or a laptop, Camera, tablet, phone, handbags can now be taxed at the whim of a customs officer unless you have a receipt of purchase in Thailand.... 

 

IF these were watch smugglers, the would surely have more than one watch on their possession. 

 

I don't believe they confessed openly, this comes across very much as coercion. The customs also confiscated these 1.2 Million Baht watches (as reported in Panthip.com)... something really stinks here. 

 

It is perhaps time these antiquated laws are modified to reflect some intelligent thought before Thai Customs make an international example of themselves. 

 

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

 

I have numerous luxury watches, I sometimes travel back to the UK with 3 watches (Eg. Panerai, Rolex, Bell & Ross), Plus a MacBook, iPad, iPhone... heck even my Tumi carry on case is worth more than 20,000 baht....

 

Returning back to Thailand just became potentially more hassle, and for what? what real benefit for the authorities?

 

Catch smugglers by all means - but use intelligence: These items should be boxed, new, unopened and in most cases being carried in numbers. 

 

 

You are not a Thai traveller or smuggler, at least this topic gave you a chance to show off or so it would seem....................

[richard_smith237]

26 minutes ago, TheLobster said:

You are not a Thai traveller or smuggler, at least this topic gave you a chance to show off or so it would seem....................

You know this is an anonymous forum?....

 

Anyway, you have nothing to be concerned about if have nothing worth 20,000 baht or more on your possession when you travel...  perhaps you'd think you would be showing off if you did.

[ericthai]

21 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

You know this is an anonymous forum?....

 

Anyway, you have nothing to be concerned about if have nothing worth 20,000 baht or more on your possession when you travel...  perhaps you'd think you would be showing off if you did.

Been coming and going to Thailand over 25yrs and living full time in Thailand 20+ years. All the times in and out i never had an issue. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Nothing has changed with customs and they are not stopping expats that live here giving them a hard time about personal items.  The reason this became an issue is the girls lied, customs officials knew they lied. Even my wife has been in and out and brought things from the USA to Thailand to give as gifts many times and never had an issue.  

[richard_smith237]

On 5/20/2017 at 10:52 PM, ericthai said:

Been coming and going to Thailand over 25yrs and living full time in Thailand 20+ years. All the times in and out i never had an issue. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Nothing has changed with customs and they are not stopping expats that live here giving them a hard time about personal items.  The reason this became an issue is the girls lied, customs officials knew they lied. Even my wife has been in and out and brought things from the USA to Thailand to give as gifts many times and never had an issue.  

 

You are quite right... and definitely this discussion has exceeded the real likelihood of being stopped with an item of value - Yes, a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

That said, the regulations as written could leave us vulnerable if customs chose to apply the letter of the law to visitors. They haven't yet, nor are they likely to. However, where many laws protect us and our civil rights (in any country), these laws remain antiquated (perhaps deliberately so?).

 

It's not particularly concerning, its not enough to prevent me from traveling with my valuables. However, it is worthy of discussion, hence the developments and path this thread has taken. 

 

 

[bangkokairportlink]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

You are quite right... and definitely this discussion has exceeded the real likelihood of being stopped with an item of value - Yes, a mountain out of a mole hill.

 

That said, the regulations as written could leave us vulnerable if customs chose to apply the letter of the law to visitors. They haven't yet, nor are they likely to. However, where many laws protect us and our civil rights (in any country), these laws remain antiquated (perhaps deliberately so?).

 

It's not particularly concerning, its not enough to prevent me from traveling with my valuables. However, it is worthy of discussion, hence the developments and path this thread has taken. 

 

 

 

What a gentleman to talk about robbers and scammers that customs from all around the world are !