Thanks for passing that info on Johnny B. I'll be using BKK airport myself in a few weeks and I'll certainly keep myself & my wife well away from those damn Duty Free shops.

Re: "The customs incident should have been challenged,and could have been avoided easily,just a little simple home work would have soon thrown up the amount of cig allowance permitted.Also why didn't the couple just say the other cigs were for the husband?I don't think we are getting the full story here somehow."

As I understand it they had 4 cartons and you are allowed 1 each, so even between them they had double the allowed amount. As I said at the start of this thread, they were in the wrong, they broke Thailand's customs regulations. No doubt about that. But a 28,000THB on the spot fine was excessive in my opinion, and as I stated earlier, I don't think it's in Thailand's best interests to have so many people pissed off and writing horror story letters to their local newspapers. Why didn't the people make a stand? Don't know, guess they are old (late 60s) and they were scared, after all they saw the TV news back home when the Aussie journalist & the Aussie woman were jailed recently. I guess they were shaking in their shoes and just wanted to get the hell out of the situation. I also guess the customs sensed their fear and played on that. I don't know the people, as I said they are the parents of a good friend. As for the taxi incident at Krabi, I suppose the Thai man approached the lady with a beautiful warm Thai smile and gained her trust. Then halfway to town he shot down a side street and robbed her. Sure it can happen anywhere, I just posted the story to alert forum readers to be extra cautious.

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