Duty Free Cigarettes - a warning

[2dandan]

I recently travelled to Bangkok airport via Dubai, accompanied by my wife and in laws.

My wife and father in law each purchased packs of 1,000 cigarettes in Dubai, to take into Thailand for their holiday and then take the remainder home.

We all had a bit of a brain fart at the airport and it didn't even occur to us that there might be a limit to the number of Duty Free cigarettes allowed into Thailand.

As such we walked through the Customs area carrying the Duty Free cigarettes in full view of the officials.

That's me painted the picture for what follows.

We cleared the customs and entered the public area adjacent to the exit. I went to the toilet and when I returned, my wife etc was surrounded by about 6 Customs officials in half uniform. They had recovered the cigarettes and wanted to arrest and take my 73 year old mother in law to the airport Police station because she was pushing the trolley with the cigs in it.

My wife intervened and accepted responsibility and they took her instead. When in the Police office, she had to sign about a 12/15 forms written in Thai.

After about 30 minutes, they then escorted her back through the terminal building and were taking her to the Customs HQ in Bangkok. After negotiation, they agreed that we as a family could all travel to the customs office in a large taxi.

At the Customs HQ, we were told that we would have to pay a fine for importing the cigs. OK, we said. How much.

31,995 Baht they said. We nearly shit ourselves as we thought it might be about 20 or 30 pounds.

We tried every negotiating tactic we know of and they wouldn't shift from that amount. We thought we were being scammed big time and told them so. We were shown a tidy handwritten ledger and told of the nationality of each entry. The fine shown was roughly the same in each case.

At that time, an Englishman left an adjoining office. He too was being fined a similar amount.

My wife asked what would happen if we didn't pay the fine and she was told that she would be taken away by the Police and held overnight, fined and the outstanding fine would remain. Our passports would also be stamped.

We were in a no win situation. They had everything thought out.

We were taken to an ATM machine across from their office and allowed to withdraw the required amount, in 2 transactions.

We paid the required amount and received an official receipt detailing the amount on pink paper, which was signed by the Customs official and my wife. They then confiscated the cigs.

My wife received her passport back and was then released.

I'm pretty certain that everything was as official as it was meant to be, and this tale of woe is not to complain about our treatment.

We were in the wrong and were dealt with severely for what was a relatively minor error.

This is for the information of fellow travellers, who may accidentally or otherwise take additional duty free goods into Thailand.

Who knows what would have happened if the ATM had failed to pay out or we did not have available funds.

[Big Boy]

Dan,

Thank you very much for an interesting and informative story. It doesn't affect me personally, being a non-smoker, but I have a lot of friends who buy in bulk prior to visiting Thailand - not being that keen on the Thai brands. I will certainly pass your warning on.

Regarding Thai customs, I've always completed the declaration form (didn't have to complete one on my last visit) as having nothing to declare, yet always walk through with goods such as camcorders in full view - never really believed the warnings. I know camcorders are one of the items specifically mentioned that should be declared - has anybody ever been stopped with such undeclared goods? If so, what happened?

[Guess]

Danny,

Obviously there is nothing you can do now to change the situation. However, I have found that in many countries that the onus of responsibilty to informthe passenger of the limits is the duty free shops themselves and secondarily the airlines. You, after all, are a customer of the airline and the airline is a customer of the airport authority who should monitor the activities of its stores that sell the goods.

I would wite a stiff letter of complaint to the airlaine stating that you were not informed of any limits into Thailand and that excessive amounts of cigarettes were made available to you when the shop quite clearly knew (or could easily check) your final destination.

I have taken up complaints with arlines in a few cases and always ended with some kind of recompense. They generally want to keep their passengers.

For the future it is best you check with trhe original departure airport (i.e Glasgow or Heathrow) for a definitive statment on goods allowed along with any regulations on whether or not you are permitted to carry someone else's duty free allowance when walking through customs.

I have heard stories at the Burmese crossing points the allowance has to be split between each individual.

[dr dave soul monsta]

Just to Add any one doing a visa trip to rannong be aware the customs officials on the small island on the way back are doing checks on all returning boats , i would sugest to all smuglers of little purple sex aid tablets, spirits and cigaretts to be aware of this . There are signs all over the immigration office at ranong and i should imagine alot of co-operation from the boat men to customs officials, the same fines will apply in rannong as in BKK if you are doing nothing wrong there be nothing to worry about

[PeteC]

I would wite a stiff letter of complaint to the airlaine stating that you were not informed of any limits into Thailand .....

Country limits on booze, tobacco, perfume etc., are listed in the back of every airline magazine in existence, in the seat pocket in front of you.

Thailand is awash with untaxed cigarettes sold by roving sellers in each and every bar district over here. I think in this case customs had no choice but to conclude the items were being brought in for resale as impossible to consume all for personal use. 2 dandan didn't mention if the cigarettes were confiscated along with paying the fine? If not, I would have tried simply giving them all to Customs and paying some "small" amount just to get out of there. Pete

[2dandan]

The cigs were confiscated.

There were no hints or suggestions from Customs, to my wife, that giving the cigs up would resolve the problem. It was very formal all the way through.

When she left the Police station in the airport escorted by Customs, and prior to leaving for Customs HQ, I spoke to the Customs officer.

I offered him the cigs and told him that I would pay the fine to him personally, to avoid going to Customs HQ. This offer was made several times.

He was not interested in any way.

After we paid the Customs fine, our paperwork was placed on top of a reasonably large pile of similar papers.

I can only assume that they were from other defaulters and a crackdown was in force.

With reference to the duty free allowances allowed into Thailand.

I flew with Emirates and on my return home I checked the in flight magazine. The allowances are clearly stated therein.

[chelsea]

We had a similar experience here in Australia on return from Thailand last year.
You are allowed to bring 200cigs back. My GF had about 800, she declared them to the customs and was given the choice of paying the full duty that it costs to bring them back into the country or throw them in a bin the other side of the customs. She was not the only one I saw it happen to, my only question, is where all of the goods go that are placed in the bin. I am sure that they would be divided up amoungst the customes staff, cannot see them being thrown out (can you)

[Jaime]

I offered him the cigs and told him that I would pay the fine to him personally, to avoid going to Customs HQ. This offer was made several times.

He was not interested in any way.

Sorry to hear of your problems but this adherence to procedure is a good thing IMO.

[2dandan]

Jaime,

I can't say that I disagree with you.

I'm in favour of honest officials as well, but the offer was made in the knowledge that some officials are not and it might have saved some time after travelling for 18 hours.

As an aside and in furtherance of Big Boys post, has anyone tried to take a Flat screen LCD TV into Thailand and declared it to Customs.

TV's are so much cheaper in the UK and I'd like to know what duty the Customs would charge when it is declared, as I don't want any hassle from them when I next visit.

[clive]

Dandan, i think u will find that most UK tv,s do not work here. Mine certainly did not and ended up on a plane back to the UK.
Ps, you can allways tell when the national tax take is down, the customs get really hard, usually a sure sign of a recession.

[Bamboo Grove]

I am sure that they would be divided up amoungst the customes staff, cannot see them being thrown out (can you)

In the early 80's I worked for the Alcohol Monopoly of Finland and due to the fact that my home town is near the Russian boarder, all the confiscated alcohol ended up in the outlet where I was working. From there it went to somewhere else where it was poured out of the bottles in to the sewers. This I would call alcohol abuse.

[caller]

Ps, you can allways tell when the national tax take is down, the customs get really hard, usually a sure sign of a recession.

Nowt to do with clamping down on house sales, do you think?

[2dandan]

Clive,

The TV is solely for playing DVD's and not for receiving TV signals.

[timego]

The way them Thai police always screw the foreigners is shameful for the country.
At the thai border also the thai police allow the peasants to sell them cheap boxes of 200 lights for something like 5 dollars for every 400 ciggerettes you buy. They are dry fake crap so don't waste money on them.
Never trust a Thai policeman. They only want money.

[Thaiclan]

has anyone tried to take a Flat screen LCD TV into Thailand and declared it to Customs.

TV's are so much cheaper in the UK and I'd like to know what duty the Customs would charge when it is declared, as I don't want any hassle from them when I next visit.[/quote]

I arrived in May from the UK and brought with me my computer and 2 flat screens (I work from home as a market trader). I made sure I had the sales receipt from the UK (bought in Dec '05), so I could prove they were "for my personal use". All was fine, no bother at all.
Maybe it would be different if you brought in a brand new one still wrapped??
Oh and the computer worked fine - just plugged it in and it fired up just like in the UK. Only difference of course was using the 2 pin plug, plus I purchased a "storm surge" pack to protect it from power surges.