KTMphil
Senior member
Recent incident with Thai Customs at the Nan/ Hua Kon - Laos/ Muang Ngeun Border
About 2 weeks ago, a Horizons Unlimited couple came through Chiangmai, then headed for Laos, planning to enter Laos at the Nan/ Hua Kon - Laos/ Muang Ngeun Border.
Their paperwork was all in order, the Thai Simplified Customs Temporary import contract was still within its 30 days of issue, so they proceeded to the Thai Customs office at the border.
The Thai Customs officer, who is new at this border crossing looked at their paperwork and said they had to pay a 10,000 baht fee to exit Thailand. I had already told them that there would be no Customs fees on exit.
A little frightend, they called me and asked what to do. I explained the situation to a Thai person here who then spoke to the Thai Customs officer. The Thai customs officer explained it was up to him what fee should be paid & our interpreter then asked for his name and badge number so that we could report the incident, which he refused to do.
We then spoke to the frightened HU couple again and told them to get a photo of the customs officer with the HU guy's wife as evidence that he was there, then he would realize he could be identified.
They managed to get a photo of him with his aknowledgement , so there was some evidence. After he realized the implications of the photo, he let them through the border for free, so be careful at the Nan border crossing right now, these Customs officers are normally on a 3 months rotation at the checkpoint, then return to the Customs head office in Thung Chan, Nan.
I have a copy of the photo and we are going to investigate it.
About 2 weeks ago, a Horizons Unlimited couple came through Chiangmai, then headed for Laos, planning to enter Laos at the Nan/ Hua Kon - Laos/ Muang Ngeun Border.
Their paperwork was all in order, the Thai Simplified Customs Temporary import contract was still within its 30 days of issue, so they proceeded to the Thai Customs office at the border.
The Thai Customs officer, who is new at this border crossing looked at their paperwork and said they had to pay a 10,000 baht fee to exit Thailand. I had already told them that there would be no Customs fees on exit.
A little frightend, they called me and asked what to do. I explained the situation to a Thai person here who then spoke to the Thai Customs officer. The Thai customs officer explained it was up to him what fee should be paid & our interpreter then asked for his name and badge number so that we could report the incident, which he refused to do.
We then spoke to the frightened HU couple again and told them to get a photo of the customs officer with the HU guy's wife as evidence that he was there, then he would realize he could be identified.
They managed to get a photo of him with his aknowledgement , so there was some evidence. After he realized the implications of the photo, he let them through the border for free, so be careful at the Nan border crossing right now, these Customs officers are normally on a 3 months rotation at the checkpoint, then return to the Customs head office in Thung Chan, Nan.
I have a copy of the photo and we are going to investigate it.