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Passports Not Carried = Arrest


Coss
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Looks like they're rounding up undesirables again, or they could be just pinging quality tourists, on a fun night out...

 

http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/100-armed-police-raid-zoe-in-yellow-no-criminals-found/

 

No weapons, drugs or other dangerous items were found on any of the people there. Immigration police found no evidence of anyone overstaying their visas. All the tourists who did not have their passport with them were taken to Chiang Mai police station and processed.

 

and

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1455879034

 

More than 100 officers raided nightclubs along Pattaya’s famed Walking Street early Friday morning and took dozens of foreigners in for interrogation because they were not holding passports.

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Friend here in Sydney got pulled up by Police recently and questioned over why he wasn't carrying any identification. His response " it was voted on back in 1987 and the government was told to shove it up it's arse

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There is no law saying you can only buy booze between 12 noon and 2pm and from 5pm to midnight, but try buy a bottle in a grocery of 7-Eleven outside of those hours. It's all based on a 1972 coup proclamation that Khun Purachai dredged up under Thaksin, simply because he is against alcohol consumption. When the courts pointed out that old coup proclamations have no legal standing, the wording was changed to "by order of the police". Now it says something like "by order of the Ministry of Health," but there is still no such law. This is Thailand. Just issue a proclamation whenever you feel like it.

 

I've mentioned before how a colleague and I were pulled up short when we went to renew our visas in the mid 1980s. We were told we needed a work permit. No WP, no visa. Huh? We were Thai government employees and carried government ID cards as temporary Thai civil servants. We went back to the university, which was quite puzzled. But the rector (a mom rachawong) filled out the forms for us to apply for a WP. When we got to the Labour Dept, it was their turn to be puzzled. They showed us the Labour Law, which specifically stated that government employees were exempt from the WP requirement. We returned to Immigration with a copy of the Labour Law section, showing why we didn't need a WP. The reaction from the Immigration Police was short and simple. "We don't care what the law says. WE SAY you have to have a WP!" Now the Catch 22 set in, since Immigration wouldn't give us a visa without a WP, and Labour couldn't issue us a WP without a visa! After a few more trips running back and forth, Labour finally decided to give us a WP for the 3 remaining days left in our old visas. Immigration was beaming when we showed up with that, and you could see their delight in having forced the Labour Dept to bow to their will. Since then every government university lecturer has had to shell out money annually for a WP that is not actually required.

 

Remember that when you ask about Thai laws. As the police told us way back then, "WE DON'T CARE what the law says. WE SAY ...!"

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