English gent caught with too many Cig's at Nong Khai border

[Alfronso]

Warning an English man gets a 70,125baht fine for bringing cigarettes from Laos
To-day at Nong khai an English man was stopped by three unmarked customs cars and had his car searched he and his 5 Thai passengers had 18 sleeves of cigarettes between them. They were taken to Nong Khai customs office and were told they would have to pay 88,100baht fine after five hours of questions and negotiations they reduced the fine to 70,125baht and were allowed three sleeves of cigarettes but the rest were taken from them. It would appear the taxi driver they used tipped off the customs officers a notice was given in English stating that anyone who brings in more than 200 cigarettes would be fined 560baht for every pack of 20 cigarettes.

[Kudjap or Bust]

More power to the NK customs guys.....

[pompui]

And the taxi driver who tipped them off,a bundle of notes for his time

[laphanphon]

going to have to give the taxi driver the benefit of the doubt.................as with most countries, using your vehicle to transport contraband, confiscation of vehicle is usually part of the law, and he may of just been protecting his ASSets though i suspect, maybe not.

don't do the crime if you.....yea yea yea..............actually if that is the correct fine then they got off cheap, if allowed 5 instead of 3 the fine should of been 72800, though i like the 5 hr of investigating/negotiating.

could you imaging in the usa, the judge fining you and you try to negotiate a lower fine, though i know it's apples and oranges for a comparison. the fine is this per pack, so pay.

you would think one of the thais would speak up and say they are his/hers, so no deportation is considered, though it may have just been a shared ride

[747man]

Thank Gawd I NEVER used THAT Taxi driver last time I went "Over the Bridge "

[lepidoptra]

Call me a goody-goody if you want but I think the treatment this man received was fair and square. If anyone deliberately flouts the customs allowances then I'm afraid I have no sympathy when they are caught. One thing does worry me. What happened to all those excess cigarettes. In the UK they are destroyed, in Thailand who knows?

[BobHelm]

I also have no sympathy and have said (a number of times) that flouting the customs requirements on cigarettes is a foolish thing to do.
In fairness I have always found that the customs officials were not particularly stringent in their adherence to the allowance - if you have a couple of packs (NOT cartons ) over they usually just let you on your way. I would have imagined that 7 cartons between the 6 of them would have been ignored. Three times the allowance & they are, probably, not for personal consumption.
In most countries (UK included) ALL the cigarettes would have been confiscated along with the fine imposed.

[747man]

Call me a goody-goody if you want but I think the treatment this man received was fair and square. If anyone deliberately flouts the customs allowances then I'm afraid I have no sympathy when they are caught. One thing does worry me. What happened to all those excess cigarettes. In the UK they are destroyed, in Thailand who knows?

They WOULD have been sold in any of the bars in NK,Belonging to one of the BIB's.....

[beer monkey]

They do say smoking is bad for you.....and him feel real bad, 70000baht for a few fags..

[BobHelm]

Good point BM....
Probably 6,300 baht for the 18 cartons....70,125 fine....Allowed to keep 30 packs....so 2,547.5 baht a pack - 65 baht in 7/11

[beer monkey]

possibly done it several times already.....so not even really out of pocket.....but a bummer if it was the first time. still everyone knows only 200 ciggies allowance..and those that don't should.

[kevh]

Bob

Actually, in practice you do not get a fine in the UK for bringing too many cigarettes into the country. They just get taken from you.

However, i was caught last year with 50 cartons in bangkok and was told i had to pay a fine of 560baht per carton. (200 cigarettes) not per pack (20 cigarettes) 28,000 baht total.

Which was an obvious scam, by the way the guys seemed to be so excited. I said i had only 2000 baht but i will pay by debit card.

The customs officers said i could not pay by card. (another indication of a scam) so i said there is no other option and i would like to speak to my embassy, upon speaking to the embassy i said i would happily pay the fine but i can only do it electronically. The embassy advised me that this should be acceptable and they could not hold me if i said i was willing to pay.

After which the customs guys asked how much this card could get from an ATM i said the standard amount for english banks is £300 which was then just under 15,000 baht.

So they took me to the ATM and i paid 15,000 baht they even let me keep my original 2000 baht cash to get to udon.

In short, Whilst i agree you should be able to do the time if you do the crime, it only applies if the laws are applied fairly, and in this case they were not.

Incidentally, fines for cigarette smuggling all over the world are equalor slightly above the duty on the cigarettes. The fine mentioned in the original post is much much more. Also the 200 cigarettes rule is for duty free cigarettes. The ones in Nong Khai are usually duty paid from Vietnam. So the fine does not apply if the laws were applied correctly.

But there you have it (THIS IS THAILAND, YOU JUST HAVE TO WEAR IT SOMETIMES)

Kev

[jackspratt]

How is it a scam? Because it happened in Thailand?

Fines for smuggling cigarettes in many places are a multiple of the duty/tax the smuggler has tried to evade.

And if someone is bringing duty free cigarettes from Laos into Thailand, how does Vietnam come into the equation?

BTW, this document is from well prior to the recent rise in Thai excise taxes.


http://img217.imageshack.us/i/tobaccotax.pdf/

[seymourbutts]

That is of course unless the person is smuggling in heroin and is female...

[jackspratt]

Mods is there a prize for the most obscure post of the day - refer above.

[747man]

How is it a scam? Because it happened in Thailand?

Fines for smuggling cigarettes in many places are a multiple of the duty/tax the smuggler has tried to evade.

And if someone is bringing duty free cigarettes from Laos into Thailand, how does Vietnam come into the equation?

BTW, this document is from well prior to the recent rise in Thai excise taxes.


http://img217.imageshack.us/i/tobaccotax.pdf/

Vietnam comes into the equation Jack,Because the cigarettes MOSTLY brought over the bridge are called ERA,Made in Vietnam for EXPORT only So one assumes they are TAX Paid in Vietnam........

[jackspratt]

747 I am not sure that tax paid in Vietnam is of any interest to the tax authorities in Thailand.

The 2 countries do not (as far as I am aware) share a common tax base.

If you bought American made cigarettes at a duty free shop in Thailand, and imported excess quantities into the UK, would the UK customs be the slightest bit interested whether tax had been paid in either the US or Thailand?

Am I missing something here?

[747man]

No Jack, I was only trying to tell you where Vietnam came into the equation,Back to the cigarettes of course in the scenario you quote of course you would have to pay duty & tax in the U.K.....And would have the cigs.confiscated aswell......They ALSO take your Passport details and enter them on their Database for FUTURE refernce INCASE you try it again,I believe the 2nd or further offences carry a rather LARGE fine,and even a CUSTODIAL sentence,if your foolish enough...

[jackspratt]

OK thanks for clearing that up 747.

Looking at kev's post maybe that is what he was also trying to say, although it is not terribly clear.

[beer monkey]

Have you ever done it again Kevro...or did you learn from it..?