jackspratt wrote: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........

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?

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...

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.

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

No i have never done it since.

But i can look back at it and laugh

Kev

Sorry that was kevh and not ro...

Was it the first time you did it..?

No, i have brought quite alot in before and sent them all back to england via post. Made money from it and have now stopped.

Things are getting tighter so its better to quit while ahead.

Kev

Has anyone actually tried to declare excess cigs ......and paid the duty?

Thats an interesting question which i would love to know the answer to

Thought about it but never tried it

Kev

Rod & May wrote:Has anyone actually tried to declare excess cigs ......and paid the duty?

I think you will find that financially it is not a worthwhile enterprise. You will end up paying the same (or more) than if you had purchased by the packet in the country that you are entering - bearing in mind if you buy by the carton (in most countries)there is a small discount on packet price....
Specialist alcohol, perfume or the like then it could be worth your while (just because you cannot obtain)- cigarettes NO....
Here I am talking about countries where you would undoubtedly get an official receipt. In certain countries you may not get a receipt & pay less than the duty required..however, if you were then stopped 10 kms from the border where would be your proof of customs payment

Rod & May wrote:Has anyone actually tried to declare excess cigs ......and paid the duty?

Rod & May, Yes I arrived at London Heathrow,a few years back,with 1000 cigs ( 800 OVER )I Went to the Green channel,declared them and then was asked to open my bag,The officer found NOTHING else and simply said to me That's OK Off you go were NOT worried about a small amount of cigarettes like you have, so off I go NO Duty & Allowed to keep my Contraband. ......So the next time I did the same,But The customs guy the 2nd time said I had to pay the duty,Which if memory serves was something like 80.00 gbp on 800 cigs,So @ 20.00 a carton STILL half the price of what I would have paid in UK Shops....

The main reason that duty free allowances were introduced in most countries, many years ago, is to smooth the movement of passengers though the customs barrier.

If there were no allowances, people would be queued up for miles, first to get searched to establish how much stuff they had (not just smokes and booze), and then to pay piddling amounts of customs duty.

Customs officers generally have a discretion on whether or not they will collect minor amounts,
even when someone has excess quantities - and particularly when they have declared the excess.

747, you went to the green channel to declare

Yes Jack,I was Still at THAT time..........It was more than 20 years ago,though

Just a quick word of warning, I understand that the BIB have started searching passengers on the NK to BKK trains
looking for any contraband their colleagues at the border might have missed.

too many pillocks jackspratt - you'll never get smokers to see sense

falang breaks the law - taxi driver weighs them in - customs impose fine - must be a fiddle
how about abiding by the law instead?

A friend of mine, and his Thai girlfriend were also caught today in this scam being operated by Nong Khai customs at the Laos border crossing. My friend informed me that he and his girlfriend were returning from a visa run to Laos. They had been informed by the duty free shops at Laos that they could bring back 400 cigarettes each into Thailand with no problem. This was incorrect as the allowance is 200 per person. My friend was confronted by customs in the car park, and he suspects that the customs officers already knew that the limit for cigarettes had been over exceeded since only he was pounced on. He and his Thai girlfriend were taken to the Nong Khai customs office where he was threatened with jail unless he paid 20,000 baht on the spot. This was calculated at approx 484 baht per packet of 20 cigarettes and he was told that this was on the full amount being carried, 4 cartons, not on the 2 cartons over the limit. They said that all of the cigarettes were his, ferrangs and none of them could be his girlfriends or her allowance. This is because the financial penalty for excess cigarettes is much higher for ferrangs than for Thai, and so the amount of the fine would be higher if all blame was attributed to him. After hours of painful negotiation the amount was reduced to 12,,000 baht which he had to pay or face going to court, and they confiscated three of the four cartons, not even leaving them with 2 cartons, one for each as per their allowance. Please be warned that this is a well rehearsed and well practiced scam designed to extract huge amounts of baht from ferrang and applies even if you only slightly exceed the customs allowance. You will not be told of your rights, or given any translation of what is going on in your own language, and my friend was taken away without being cautioned or read any rights. My friend was also threatened with police arrest, being held in custody, and a Court trial and possibly not being able to enter Thailand again.

This is a scam in my opinion because:

1. The amount of fine at 484 baht per packet over 200 cigarettes is ridiculously high, and it is unfair that the fine is four times higher for ferrang than for Thai people.
2. The duty free shops are misleading ferrang about their allowances, and then I summise mabe even tipping off the customs.
3. In this case claiming that all the cigarettes were the ferrangs and none of them his Thai girlfriends is deliberate manipulation to maximise the amount the ferrang is forced to pay in this trap.
4. Too many cigarettes were confiscated, even the duty free allowance of 200 per person could not be retained.
5. Initially they tried to extort an amount based on the entire quantity in his possession and not just the amount above the limit.

My advice to any ferrang contemplating a Laos Visa run, or returning from Laos to Nong Khai would be to ensure that you do not cross into Thailand with one cigarette more than the 200 cigarette limit, and that you check very carefully what the current maximum quantity of alcohol, and or cigarettes you can bring in legally to Thailand !!!!!

Yep. They were scammed. Hope they reported it, not that it will do much good now.
As you said, do your own research, don't believe the vendors.
Here's what the Thai Customs website says:

However, there are limits on the amount of alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, cigars and smoking tobacco to which you may include in your duty free personal exemption as follows:
200 cigarettes or 250 grams of cigars or smoking tobacco; and
1 litre of alcoholic beverages.

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connec ... ancerelief

Section 27 bis. Any person whoever assists in concealing, disposing or making away with, purchases, takes in pledge or otherwise receives any goods, knowing that such goods are tax unpaid or restricted or prohibited goods; or that they were imported into the Kingdom without duly cleared through the Customs; or that they were imported into the Kingdom by evading duties, restrictions or prohibitions so related to such goods shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine equal to quadruple the duty-paid value of the goods or both the imprisonment and fine.

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connec ... dpenalties

My wife's house and land are in the same soi / village as many of the "customs" guys who do these busts live at.

They take the cigs & re-sell them, she notes that the whole village is like wall to wall "confiscated from farang cigs" in some houses & that the locals think it's all a big laff & a half as it's been going on as long as anyone can remember.

I'll have to ask for more details, no one in there lives posh that's for sure, so the "penalty" money must be going to someone a bit higher in the food chain.

RW

This is a bit puzzling to me .I understood that duty free goods were bought in duty free areas such as on board a ship ,Airoplane or the the duty free transit area of an airport where you have been deemed to have left the country.
The shops in Laos say duty free but are really not as they are inside Laos and beer ,Whisky and cigarettes are more expensive on the bridge than in Vientiane . The goods in Laos are cheaper than Thailand but i have never seen a tax exempt or duty free sign on anything i have bought on the bridge.
When i lived in Germany and came home to uk i could only bring the normal 200 cigs and 1 litre of spirits duty free but i could bring as much as i wanted that was bought in German shops and was already tax paid and not duty free.
As far as i can tell nothing bought in those shops is duty free.
There must be just rules for bringing any goods in Thailand from Laos , tax paid or not. TiT
ww