Singaporean detained in Phuket Thailand over walkie-talkie

[Zxcvb]

Just came across this while searching online. Seems like the incident happened December 2010. Wonder if driver is from this forum. Anyway, he was charged and fined 18600thb in court and given back passport after a month. Just to share.

 

http://rastforum.com/index.php?topic=642.0

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I am new in here. Just a brief introduction of myself and why am i in here.

 

I am from Singapore and currently i am being detained in Phuket Thailand, Please allow me to share with you, what actually happened. With a group of friends,that are keen 4x4 drivers, we drove from Singapore, via Malaysia to Phuket Thailand. With the need to communicate in the convoy, we were all using walkie talkies in our cars, as it was expensive to communicate via mobile phones.

 

All went well when we crossed the international border into Thailand, but my nightmare started when we were driving in Phuket Island on the 1st of December and we were stopped at a routine roadblock at Kamala checkpoint in Phuket. I was detained as i was using a handheld Yaesu FT60 Walkie talkie and i found out at the moment that it was illegal to use this in thailand. Despite my explainations that i was using it for car to car communications and i was unaware that a license was required to bring or use it in thailand, it fell on deaf ears. The Officer asked me for a bribe of 20,000bt to let me go, but i politely explained to him that i didnt have that much cash on me and it was in the hotel room. We couldnt' communicate well and therefore i made a call to the Singapore embassy in Thailand and asked the officer to translate for me.

 

After passing the phone to the officer and after my embassy has spoken to the thai police officer, i was detained and driven to the police station where i was thrown into the prison lock up for a night. I was susbquently released on bail the next day, when my Singaporean friends bailed me out for a whopping 100,000 bt, the thai cell mate that shared the cell with me, was locked up for possesion of drugs and his bail was only 40,000 bt. I was told to report back on the police station on the 9th of december when my understanding was that i would be sent to the court to face the sentence. but it wasn't the case, i was instead taken to the thai immigration department to extend my passport where i paid 1900bt to extend my passport and had to give 500bt to the policeman as "service charge".

 

Up to today, i do not know my charge and i was told that i had to remain in thailand and unable to return to thailand for like 1-2months while they investigate and send the walkie talkie for investigations and testing. I have since engaged a lawyer and he is doing all his best to get me home. right now, i am stranded in phuket thailand and unable to return home because of a possession of a walkie talkie. I do not know how soon i can return home but i really do miss home and just want to get home asap. I might risk losing my job back in Singapore and my finances are drying up even as i stay in Phuket.

 

This is my 3rd time visiting Phuket, and it is indeed a beautiful country with lovely people,throughout my ordeal. I have met and made new friendships with the thai people.

 

i am appealing to all in this forum for any form of assistance, advice. It was suppose to be a holiday but it turned into a nightmare. As a tourist, there was no way that i would ever be aware of such "strict" laws governing the use of walkie talkies in thailand.

 

Best Regards

 

 

[Mustank]

sounds like a scam

 

he can look for MFA

[Itsec]

this serve as a warning for those convoy to Thailand or MY..

 

ALWAYS switch off/hide walkie talkie on a road block...

Edited July 27, 2011 by Itsec

[Adrianli]

sounds like a scam

 

he can look for MFA

 

I dont think its a scam, its the truth. Even for MY, any communication device require a license. You must have an import license to bring in communication devices to the country. Same for almost every country.

[Moredhel]

sounds like a scam

 

he can look for MFA

 

Georgie retire liao leh..

 

Now all half past 6 shoot marbles. Where got time to take care of average singaporean facing problems overseas?

[Moredhel]

I dont think its a scam, its the truth. Even for MY, any communication device require a license. You must have an import license to bring in communication devices to the country. Same for almost every country.

 

I think all you have to do is declare when you go in that you undertake to bring the registered equipment out when you leave.

[Dwoon]

aiyah..... he probably kwai lan and got into deeper trouble. There's many reports of Phuket & bangkok having such scams where the police are involved. eg, the accusation of shoplifting at airport shops when there is no clear boundary between the shops themselves.... so take note not to carry stuff around between airport shops.

 

Just not a savvy traveller if you ask me....... if one gives these crooks half a chance to get money outta you.... then you asked for it.

 

It would have been easier to negotiate the price down to maybe 5000 to 10000 bahts instead of making tings difficult. Once he call the embassy.... what do you think needs to happen? Even if the police didn't want to go thru' the hassle.... they won't have much of a choice.

 

Stupid fool!!!

 

[Adrianli]

I think all you have to do is declare when you go in that you undertake to bring the registered equipment out when you leave.

 

U cant legally bring it in. If u declare, it will be confiscated.

 

I do purchasing for vessels previously. U have to purchase the walkie talkies from their authorised agents. If u want to bring in, ur agent in that country must have import license of such equipments. It has to go thru custom and pay certain tax.

 

In SG, these walkie talkies are cheap but we cant simply bring it to another country. They have their own set of controlled frequencies which may defer from ours. So they are afraid u easdrop in their secret conversation.

[Badder]

probably the mistake was getting the singapore embassy involved.

 

once he did that it becomes 'official' and the police will do everything 100% by the book.

 

 

 

when dealing with police/officials just give them whatever cash bribe they ask for and try not to let it escalate up the chain of command - even if you win - you lose (time and money)

Edited July 27, 2011 by Badder

[Caravan]

It's the same everywhere. Even in SG, you can only use IDA-approved walkie-talkies. Nowadays, it's hard to bring in non approved WT as they will be confiscated by customs (it's in customs website). Using non approved WT is illegal.

He should have just paid the bribe. Instead he called the embassy to translate, of course the police can't tell the embassy staff they want a bribe, and when you break the law, they can detain you.

[Mcf777]

this guy acting naive.

since he is on convoy, he should know that walkie talkie is a big NO NO to all country that he will be visiting.

Stupid fool!

 

[Zxcvb]

Yeh. These walkie talkies are "illegal" per se in all countries unless there's license or permit to use them, which we motoring enthusiasts won't have during ad-hoc convoys up north. So it's best to keep them away from sight during road blocks, customs, immigration or police stop.

 

The person detained shouldn't have called the Singapore Embassy, but to bring down the price of the bribe and keep it's walkie-talkie, maybe 5000thb would suffice. I think there's another post here where someone was caught with walkie-talkie at Singapore Custom while coming back.

[Shor]

Just back from my trip to North Thailand, it was a breeze. I went up one vehicle so not using any walkie talkie. But I strongly advice.......no need any sort of walkie talkie.....just buy a SIM card, it's cheaper this way!!! So anyone can contact anyone on the move! My 2 cents!

 

 

 

Just came across this while searching online. Seems like the incident happened December 2010. Wonder if driver is from this forum. Anyway, he was charged and fined 18600thb in court and given back passport after a month. Just to share.

 

http://rastforum.com/index.php?topic=642.0

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I am new in here. Just a brief introduction of myself and why am i in here.

 

I am from Singapore and currently i am being detained in Phuket Thailand, Please allow me to share with you, what actually happened. With a group of friends,that are keen 4x4 drivers, we drove from Singapore, via Malaysia to Phuket Thailand. With the need to communicate in the convoy, we were all using walkie talkies in our cars, as it was expensive to communicate via mobile phones.

 

All went well when we crossed the international border into Thailand, but my nightmare started when we were driving in Phuket Island on the 1st of December and we were stopped at a routine roadblock at Kamala checkpoint in Phuket. I was detained as i was using a handheld Yaesu FT60 Walkie talkie and i found out at the moment that it was illegal to use this in thailand. Despite my explainations that i was using it for car to car communications and i was unaware that a license was required to bring or use it in thailand, it fell on deaf ears. The Officer asked me for a bribe of 20,000bt to let me go, but i politely explained to him that i didnt have that much cash on me and it was in the hotel room. We couldnt' communicate well and therefore i made a call to the Singapore embassy in Thailand and asked the officer to translate for me.

 

After passing the phone to the officer and after my embassy has spoken to the thai police officer, i was detained and driven to the police station where i was thrown into the prison lock up for a night. I was susbquently released on bail the next day, when my Singaporean friends bailed me out for a whopping 100,000 bt, the thai cell mate that shared the cell with me, was locked up for possesion of drugs and his bail was only 40,000 bt. I was told to report back on the police station on the 9th of december when my understanding was that i would be sent to the court to face the sentence. but it wasn't the case, i was instead taken to the thai immigration department to extend my passport where i paid 1900bt to extend my passport and had to give 500bt to the policeman as "service charge".

 

Up to today, i do not know my charge and i was told that i had to remain in thailand and unable to return to thailand for like 1-2months while they investigate and send the walkie talkie for investigations and testing. I have since engaged a lawyer and he is doing all his best to get me home. right now, i am stranded in phuket thailand and unable to return home because of a possession of a walkie talkie. I do not know how soon i can return home but i really do miss home and just want to get home asap. I might risk losing my job back in Singapore and my finances are drying up even as i stay in Phuket.

 

This is my 3rd time visiting Phuket, and it is indeed a beautiful country with lovely people,throughout my ordeal. I have met and made new friendships with the thai people.

 

i am appealing to all in this forum for any form of assistance, advice. It was suppose to be a holiday but it turned into a nightmare. As a tourist, there was no way that i would ever be aware of such "strict" laws governing the use of walkie talkies in thailand.

 

Best Regards

 

[Darthrevan]

dun need any walkie talkies..nowadays mobile phones got conferencing call mode

[Evillusion]

Not to say i am a malaysian friend but if it happened in MY every newspaper will be covering this story and pple will start saying how corrupt our northern neighbours are!

[Darryn]

Just FYI, also illegal to bring walkie talkie back to sg, even if bought here. You must show the proper usage license

[Cavili]

 

I was caught with a Motorola T series walkie talkie at Tuas Singapore Checkpoint. The officer brought me into the office and took down the serial nos of the walkie talkie and a letter of referral to MDA. The next day MDA officer called me and told me this w/talkie is not meant for use in SINGAPORE. He told me to give away to my relatives in Malaysia.

 

Luckily, i was not penalise at all and just a curtous reminder to dispose away. Thanks for the kind understanding of the MDA officer.

[Hamburger]

need no thanks.

if he pursuit the matter, its will mean more paper work to do....