Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing a DJ and a sword-carrying Briton were arrested here in Thailand. It is kind of our becoming increasing usual ‘foreigners behaving badly’ sort of videos. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Pattaya Pub raid nets illegal Canadian DJ, sword-carrying Briton. Quoting directly: “Police raided a nightclub and arrested a Canadian DJ working illegally and a sword-carrying Briton on Saturday night.” The first thing I thought when I read that, I said “sword-carrying Briton” like Robert Clive? I mean, who? Why is he carrying a sword around? Quoting further: “Police arrested the Canadian DJ, 41, identified only as David. He was charged with working without a permit in the country.” I will come back to that in a moment. “During the arrest, a 23-year-old British man, identified only as Zico, ran away from the Cannabis Club. Police ran after him and finally arrested him among banana trees about 800 metres from the club. He was found to be carrying a sword.” Okay, I mean, I have to imagine for that person, being apprehended by Thai Police in the middle of banana trees, carrying a sword will be one of the great stories of this person’s life. So, there is that. Now circling back here to the Canadian DJ.

So yeah, this is one of those that I think a lot of folks here in Thailand, especially foreigners, are a bit more cavalier on than they otherwise really should be.  What we are talking about there is you will see a lot of folks over here who are engaging in illegal work and it is sort of one of these things where they will see it and they will do it themselves; it becomes this kind of vicious cycle where people think “Oh, it’s something I am not going to get caught with.” Well, when you do get caught, it’s a real problem. I don’t know what the consequences were but what they could have been, this person could still be detained, this person could be sent for deportation, there are all kinds of negative consequences that can come from working illegally in Thailand.

So, the thing to take away from this video is one) if you are going to me come work in Thailand, get your work authorization in order and as we have discussed in other videos, Destination Thailand Visa, notwithstanding all the hyperbole coming from people that have no business talking about it because they don’t know what they are talking about, Destination Thailand Visas don’t authorize any kind of work in Thailand; this person was DJing in Thailand. So again, I don’t know what this person’s visa status was but they didn’t have a proper Work Permit. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the story is about sword-carrying around but just generally speaking, carrying swords around in Thailand, probably going to attract at least some attention from local law enforcement.