Transcript of the above video: 

The title of this video is kind of an odd one but I like this article that I'm going to jump into because there are data points in here for foreigners in Thailand regarding Customs. So let's just jump in. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News, that's thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Foreigners caught smuggling 38 smartphones. Quoting directly: "Phuket Airport Customs Officers have arrested three foreign nationals accused of attempting to smuggle 38 untaxed smartphones into Thailand through Phuket International Airport." Quoting directly: "The arrests were made at about 10am yesterday (May 28) inside the international arrivals terminal at Phuket International Airport in Mai Khao, Thalang. The three suspects were identified (I'm going to leave the names redacted)". Quoting further: "According to the report, Customs Officers became suspicious after detecting unusual items in the suspects' luggage at about 10am while they were passing through the 'Nothing to Declare', or green, channel on the first floor of the international arrivals terminal." Quoting further: "All three suspects admitted ownership of the luggage, the report said. The men were charged with "smuggling or bringing into the Kingdom goods that have not paid taxes, restricted goods, prohibited goods, or goods that have not been properly cleared through customs". The suspects along with the seized smartphones, were handed over to investigators at Sakhu Police Station for further legal proceedings."

So, the thing to take away from this video is one, I think this is one of those circumstances where the ostensible charge - there's sort of an implicit underlying objective here - and 38 smartphones, it looks to me like authorities are concerned that this might have been involved with some kind of scam centre. Now again, they may not be able to actually prove that - and I'm not even saying necessarily that is the case - but again this might be a situation where sort of this Customs charge is being used in lieu of not being able to use some other charge that they can't quite make the case on. So there's that side of things. 

But the other side of things to remember, and this is something to take away for any foreigner looking to live, work, be in Thailand and who travels in and out often, look, Thai Customs has wide authority. If they determine that somebody's bringing something in in violation of Customs Law, you're going to have a hard time really doing much about that. I mean their plenary power is substantial. It's not unlike US Customs and Border Protection. I mean they are Bonded Officers and they have substantial power at that border. I mean basically in the United States, the Supreme Court has said effectively they have almost unfettered discretion along the border. Again, citizens have a right to come and go from the country but they also have the discretion to stop, search people etc. 

The point I am trying to make with this video though is look in Thailand, especially if you're bringing in significant amounts of merchandise and you're not basically clearing that with Customs, you could end up finding yourself in a bad situation. I expect these folks will not only see Customs fines and things of that nature, but it's very likely they may also get deported and blacklisted as well.