A stop by customsтАж

A stop by customsтАж

I was stopped by customs in the uk by what seemed a random stop? I had the embarrassment of having the whole of my suitcase emptied peace by peace in front of every one who was walking through customs at the time, & I must have been there 50mins.

I was asked very personal questions like, do I live alone, & as I replied тАШnoтАЩ I have a lady friend, the man then asked тАШdid I sleep with herтАЩ?? Perhaps this was part of the stereotyping category they were trying to put me in, to aid them in my detainment?
The man also seemed a little concerned that I had written notes of how to say things in thai, (as I like to try & speak thai), & that I had a thai dictionary with me too?! Go figure????

He also asked what my job was, & for some reason kept asking what day I would be returning to work? Maybe just to assure himself that I did have a fulltime permanent job in the uk, & that because of the high number of stamps in my passport for los trips, that I was not upto earning any dubious income for conducting dubious activities out there?!?!

I had 2 dvds with me, which embarrassingly they viewed, & because they thought, (which I also assumed), that the lads were of age, they gave these back to me with no problem.

They then seized all my 1000 cigarettes & gave me the relevant paper work, I think this will also be followed up by a formal letter to my home address, yes/no?

I had a blank memory card in my camera, as the one that had pics on was in my hand luggage, (incase my suitcase should have gone missing, or the camera got taken by baggage handlers, etc), & this only seemed to get searched briefly. This had mainly fully/semi clothed pics of my offтАЩs during my trip.
The man thought it strange that I had not taken any pictures, & I was surprised that I didnтАЩt get a full body search for not producing a memory card with pics on тАУ maybe they require a very definite reason/evidence to carry this act out? Or maybe he just thought this part of my story was okтАжтАжтАж.

The man kept asking if I had a mobile too, maybe to look for pics taken with this also? So I told him the truth, that it had been stolen. I then went on to say that as I was so upset about my mobile being stolen that, I dared not risk the same fate with my new expensive camera, so hence no pics were taken!

As I was naturally nervous, & I always fear the worst outcome, i told the man that I had been to Hua Hin where I indeed have relatives, & one night in bkk. He found my bkk hotel receipt & also a printed map of the gay bars!- opps!! So I told him that yes I did bring guest back to the hotel.

I did never go to Hua Hin, but spent the rest of my trip in pattaya, where just the mentioning this place may have seemed sleazy. Which IтАЩm sure he may have discovered after finding a few souvenirs receipts purchased there. I also had the address of a place I wanted to visit in pattaya, which he also saw. For all they knew I could have taken just a day trip there?

So now does this mean I will have a тАШBlack markтАЩ on my passport record for having cigarettes seized, & or bringing certain dvdтАЩs into the country, or possible not telling the true about were I went in los.
Will they maybe be watching me closely in future because of this?

Where they happy (ish) with what I told them. Or maybe as I think I have read on the board before I think, that they may follow me up with a knock at the door later in timeтАж..?

Well I learn my lessons тАУ stick to the duty free allowanceтАЩs, & maybe next time, it may not even be wise to take pics of any offтАЩs, just incase the customs think the thai lads are younger than they look, which we know is all too true.

It can be annoying the sacrifices we have to make when after having a great time in los, then thinking about coming home again. But if we require repeats trips then, again annoyingly prudent sacrifices maybe should be made, yes/no?!

What do you think, especially those who have been stopped in the uk, lets hear what maybe happened to you when you were stoppedтАжтАжтАжтАжтАж.

I've only been stopped once which was in 1999 on coming back through Heathrow. They searched my case and were particularly interested in a leaflet for the Babylon Sauna which a friend had given me and written directions on how to get there. Actually I didn't visit but when I was taken to an interview room they kept asking about it. I had a new digital camera which were a lot more expensive then and they were sure I'd bought it abroad and should be paying duty on it. They wanted me to prove that I hadn't. I said I'd bought it at Dixons in London and would be able to produce a Credit card receipt but that I didn't have it with me.

They then went through every photo I'd taken and one of the two officers present asked why "none of the man had any chest hair?". I assume he felt that some looked a little young but I pointed out that few Thais had chest hair no matter how old they were and that I had a Thai friend in his twenties who didn't even need to shave.

One of my memory cards had a blue dot on it which was to tell me it was blank and the next one to use. They seemed to think that it meant something special and after I said it was blank they announced that they would check with another officer as a witness. Actually there was one photo on it which was a test photo I'd taken of my house.

I pointed out that it proved that I must have had the camera before I travelled and one of the officers said "Oh, well done Sir."

I was strip searched and my shoes were inspected but I was then allowed to go. It was a bit heavy and one of the officers was really nasty. I had a Gay Thai guide in my case so they knew from the start that I was Gay.

I still have a photo one of the custom's officers took with my camera of a colleague.

[Bob]

I'm friendly but non-responsive, telling them the least I can. They don't like it but I don't care (as far as I'm concerned, it's none of their business). They (LA customs) didn't ask me a thing this trip so I breezed through.

[thanatorn-old]

I have just returned from LOS and for some reason I was absolutely certain before I left the UK that I would get stopped on my return - some sort of sixth sense??? I was stopped and thankfully had only brought one carton of ciggies as opposed to my normal ten or twelve. I also left out the DVD's and anything else they could pick on - as most government officials are a proverbial pain in the A***. They X rayed the case and there was not much they could say.

However, on my return I spoke to a friend who had gone to BKK for a wedding with a group of friends and travelled via Abu Dhabi, where they purchased cigarettes between them (38 persons and a total of 50 cartons between them). Why they did not get them in LOS heaven knows. On arrival at BKK a Thai person (they do not know who, nor was he in uniform), advised them to take the cigarettes out of the duty free bags and put them in their cases. This they did and were promptly stopped on going through customs and nicked for smuggling! A total of over 300 000 baht fine and all ciggies consficated - to be paid in cash only. They managed to get this together and put it down to bad luck but, I think it was a bit of a set up as no one I know has ever been stopped going into BKK( unless you are obviously suspicious or they have been tipped off), so perhaps a word of caution is required ( the quantity of travellers in this cases excepted), on who to listen to when awaiting your luggage at BKk... if these guys did not have the money available it may have been nasty?

[allieb]

Will anybody ever learn? What a stupid thing to do, 1,000 fags. You know the limit is 200. When you decided to take that amount, and got caught with it, you left yourself open to anything they wanted to do to you or ask you. From that point you was a petty criminal.

If you had have been clean ( duty free within the limit I mean) they would have been more cautious. A person caught red handed smuggling is assumed to be breaking other laws as well. You had a bad experience but you got what is expected.

Depending on how they viewed your co-operation you may or may not get a summons to appear in court for smuggling. You could be fined a lot of money. Had you have been clean you could have told them to fuck off and refused to answer the questions about your sexual behavior.

By the way, cars have been impounded at Dover when the drivers comming from France have had that amount of fags over the limit Time to give up smoking I think.

you have described basically similar experiences I have had twice.

My advice-do as Bob said-act friendly but non-responsive. It is an outrageous intrusion into your civil liberties. Give them no information that can ever be used aginst you because from what I hear-they will and they'll exagerate or they wil lie.
However as we all know-it's better to be nice to police type peope than not.

I have been asked the most rediculous questions like-"why do you keep all your ATM receipts ?" and "why do you read so many books ?". I gave completely non-commital answers which lead to more. In the end when asked why I spend so much time inThailand I responded "none of your damned business actually ?"-this drew a more senior custom's official who asked why I was being so secretive. I again responded "do your job but quit asking me personal questions as you won't get a reply "...the upshot is that it just took longer to get through customs but I actually made an official complaint and receive a written apology. I carry it with me now to wave at UK customs if stopped in the future.

If you tell this story to people you just get the usual.."they have to be careful-terrorists etc etc" rubbish. It's no such thing-just petty offficials carried away with their own self importance.

Always declare on your custom's form anything you think you need to-and never have anything over your prescribed limit or that is illegal.

But : they do examine sim cards and any type of data containing material- they do examine digital cards from cameras and be aware now- they can still read a digital camera card even after an image has been deleted. You know what their after but it's nothing but discrimination against single older gay males.

Such is life in Tony Blair's Britain and George Bush's America..wouldn't be a problem if they hadn't proven to be 2 of the most incompetant and dangerous men on the planet.

I travel from usa to Thailand once or twice a year. I am continually harassed by customs/immigration when I return to the usa. Chicago is terrible about it. Seattle is not too bad. San Francisco is sometimes ok and sometimes not. I just keep my nose clean, and answer the questions without elaborating. Luckily I scuba dive so they can see that I have the wetsuit, fins and mask with me. I am also an artist, so I bring paintings back that I have created in Bkk. It drives them crazy that original art is non-dutiable. They want to know what I do , where I stayed, why I stay so long, why I go so often, etc. I alwasy give a business card immediately and they always look up my website. One time i was questioned for 30 minutes - they used the good cop /bad cop routine. I never responded to the "good cop", just to the "bad cop" as he was the one doing the questioning. They even looked up the passport and travel data of my ex-wife. Asked if i was ever married and what her name was. It felt like a total invasion of my privacy. I never bring back anything over the limit, I dont bring porn back, just myself, my scuba gear, some presents and my art. These guys at customs/immigration have too much power in my opinion.

I know this topic is about coming back from Thailand, I had a fun experience going to bkk. In CPH the security lady looked at me: oh I can see at your face you are going BKK. Smiled to her yes, have a nice vacation was her answer.

[bucknaway]

I didn't get stopped this time but I have been stopped more times than not. I answer the questions and let them search. Why make things harder on myself?

I mean come on. We will off a boy, suck on his body, have him suck on our body and diddle each other up the bum but consider a question about why you go to Thailand makes you clutch the pearls, gasp and swoon????

Customs asked me why I go to Thailand and I told them because a 3 week vacation is cheap there and they treat me like I am a rock star... And I get to have some of the best sex I have ever had in my life! He asked me if I owned a house in Thailand and I said no way. I'm an American.

I expected to be checked but they waved me on.. And this time the guy sent me through with a smile.

I went thru LAX a couple of years ago and was stopped and searched by custom (Department of Homeland and Security) for over 1 hour. I did not smuggle anything illegal, I don't drink nor smoke, so no alcohol and cigarette - I was only carrying my laptop, a medium size suitcase, my hand carry bag with my camera in it. From the get go, I was not just a random check - I was suspect #1 - A gay man Traveling thru S.E. Asia (especially Thailand).

Having gone thru my luggage and found nothing alarming - the officer then rudely told me to turn on my laptop and ordered me (yes ORDERED with a stern voice) to "SHOW ME EVERYTHING!". My business is Import/Export - so I started by showing him lot's of excell and word file reports - he got bored and once again yelled at me "SHOW ME PICTURES!! Don't you have any pictures!!". Hmmm finally we are getting somewhere - Once again because of what I do, most of the pictures I have are of sample merchandise for my business - So I started from the beginning, click, click, click.... BUT THEN:

Apparently without my knowledge my then 14 year old son had downloaded his School Re-treat picture which happen to be on the beach. Innocent pictures of boys and girls, and teachers, and the vendors, and cows, and everything else that goes along with a beach outing. Then the questioning started: "What's with all the boys?", "What are they doing on the beach?", "Why are they wearing bathing suits?" - with me answer each one of them honestly and politely.

Nothing on the computer, by now it's been over 1 hour - after flying over 17 hours sitting in the economy class and at 11:00pm at night - I'm beginning to get annoyed!! I was such a special case that there are now 3 officers around me - Now their attention is my camera. "Show me all the pictures" - one of the officer ordered me which I did. Again my digital camera has over 1 hundred pictures of mostly sample merchandise - after about the 20th picture of nothing... suddenly there is one picture of me an boy taken on the beach wearing our bathing suits! Suddenly I heard one of the officer behind me saying "AHA!! That's it! That's It!" - I was so insulted by the comment but was too afraid to say anything that would make them angry and hold me even longer than they already did - Beside I know that they want me to react in such a manner giving them a reason to detain me - I was irate and being difficult and unreasonable. So I decided to explain to them that the boy was a friend and he is of a legal age, beside we were not doing anything illegal just posing on the beach surrounded by many people.

They gave my camera back and gathered in the back for about 5 minutes. One of the officer came back to me and told me to follow him to a counter - then punched a few things on his computer and gave everything back to me and told me "Thank you and you're free to go" - Just like that. I asked him for the names of the other two officers. He asked me "what for" - "Oh I just want to send you guys a thank you note that's all" - I said. The other officer saw that we were conversing and came back - "What's going on here" he said, "Oh he just want our names" said the other officer - "The name is Cruz!, Write it down! Cruz!!". So I did.

To make a long story short - I wrote a complain letter to the head of Homeland and Security of Los Angeles the following day describing such demeaning treatment I have received the night before. Surprisingly I got a call two weeks later from an investigator telling me that they are sorry that I was treated so bad and are doing an investigation of the 3 officers. He further told me that I was not a suspect of any sort and that it was a routine random check. However the officers were a bit overzealous in this case and he was sorry that I had to experience such treatment. He gave me his personal hand phone number and ask me to call him in the future if I experience the same treatment going thru LAX. Case closed!

What I experienced left a bitter taste in my tongue - I'm a naturalized American and I haven't been back to America since.

I went thru LAX a couple of years ago and was stopped and searched by custom (Department of Homeland and Security) for over 1 hour. I did not smuggle anything illegal, I don't drink nor smoke, so no alcohol and cigarette - I was only carrying my laptop, a medium size suitcase, my hand carry bag with my camera in it. From the get go, I was not just a random check - I was suspect #1 - A gay man Traveling thru S.E. Asia (especially Thailand).

Having gone thru my luggage and found nothing alarming - the officer then rudely told me to turn on my laptop and ordered me (yes ORDERED with a stern voice) to "SHOW ME EVERYTHING!". My business is Import/Export - so I started by showing him lot's of excell and word file reports - he got bored and once again yelled at me "SHOW ME PICTURES!! Don't you have any pictures!!". Hmmm finally we are getting somewhere - Once again because of what I do, most of the pictures I have are of sample merchandise for my business - So I started from the beginning, click, click, click.... BUT THEN:

Apparently without my knowledge my then 14 year old son had downloaded his School Re-treat picture which happen to be on the beach. Innocent pictures of boys and girls, and teachers, and the vendors, and cows, and everything else that goes along with a beach outing. Then the questioning started: "What's with all the boys?", "What are they doing on the beach?", "Why are they wearing bathing suits?" - with me answer each one of them honestly and politely.

Nothing on the computer, by now it's been over 1 hour - after flying over 17 hours sitting in the economy class and at 11:00pm at night - I'm beginning to get annoyed!! I was such a special case that there are now 3 officers around me - Now their attention is my camera. "Show me all the pictures" - one of the officer ordered me which I did. Again my digital camera has over 1 hundred pictures of mostly sample merchandise - after about the 20th picture of nothing... suddenly there is one picture of me an boy taken on the beach wearing our bathing suits! Suddenly I heard one of the officer behind me saying "AHA!! That's it! That's It!" - I was so insulted by the comment but was too afraid to say anything that would make them angry and hold me even longer than they already did - Beside I know that they want me to react in such a manner giving them a reason to detain me - I was irate and being difficult and unreasonable. So I decided to explain to them that the boy was a friend and he is of a legal age, beside we were not doing anything illegal just posing on the beach surrounded by many people.

They gave my camera back and gathered in the back for about 5 minutes. One of the officer came back to me and told me to follow him to a counter - then punched a few things on his computer and gave everything back to me and told me "Thank you and you're free to go" - Just like that. I asked him for the names of the other two officers. He asked me "what for" - "Oh I just want to send you guys a thank you note that's all" - I said. The other officer saw that we were conversing and came back - "What's going on here" he said, "Oh he just want our names" said the other officer - "The name is Cruz!, Write it down! Cruz!!". So I did.

To make a long story short - I wrote a complain letter to the head of Homeland and Security of Los Angeles the following day describing such demeaning treatment I have received the night before. Surprisingly I got a call two weeks later from an investigator telling me that they are sorry that I was treated so bad and are doing an investigation of the 3 officers. He further told me that I was not a suspect of any sort and that it was a routine random check. However the officers were a bit overzealous in this case and he was sorry that I had to experience such treatment. He gave me his personal hand phone number and ask me to call him in the future if I experience the same treatment going thru LAX. Case closed!

What I experienced left a bitter taste in my tongue - I'm a naturalized American and I haven't been back to America since.

That reminds me that I have 2 gay friends-a couple in their 40's who are together and never go to bed with anone else-who have stopped their twice yearly holidays to the States because of similar treatment.

the officer then rudely told me to turn on my laptop and

I don't have that problem. My laptop's a Dell which could have one of those Sony batteries :-)

[bing]

I one time got a going over in Atlanta. An officer took me to a room and because I did get a bit nervous at that treatment. The guy asked why I seemed nervous, so I just told him I felt like I was being treated poorly. He kept going thru all my things, but let me go after a half hour. Thinking about it still raises my blood pressure. Don't know what to do to be calm cool and collected when you are asked to take your bags to a private room. I also never bring things back that can cause a problem. Lots of pictures of elephants and tigers and beach but no pics that show anything that might be a problem. A few books of matches from various venues seemed to cause the most glee in his eyes. The answer to why did you go to Thailand, "I went for a vacation."

is it really true about recovering images from camera memory cards?

we know this can be done with hard drives as these intails more electronics & also moving parts (spinning hard drive), but it would seem very clever if a standard memory card has the same capabilities.........?

[Hmmm]

A memory card is exactly like a hard disk in this regard. Use your camera's 'low level' format routine to clear (all) images if you are concerned. This 'should' overwrite the card, but no guarantees. A safer approach is to plug the card into your computer, so that it appears as a storage device, just like a disk. Plugging the camera into your computer via USB achieves this in some cases; other cameras don't, in which case an external (USB) card reader is necessary. In both cases, then use a standard wiping program to clear the card.

[Bob]

is it really true about recovering images from camera memory cards?


Yes, absolutely true. For all practical purposes, a memory card is like a computer hard disk.

I have deleted photos on both smart media and compact flash before and, in one case, I over-wrote some (meaning I kept taking photos after the memory card was full). I have a program that will go in and retrieve the deleted photos and it recovers about 90% of them (the program I have is a simple one I found on the net somewhere whereas I presume that the feds or other governments have much better programs and can recover a higher percentage).

So, like somebody said, if you have had questionable items on memory cards, either get them adequately wiped or don't take them across any borders.

By the way, presuming you do the wiping at DOD standards (9 wiping passes, I believe), does anyone know if this is a foolproof way of preventing retrieval by the governmental programs?

Well, seems like we all have similar stories. I returned from Thailand on Nov 8 to Los Angeles. I was given the going over. Of course my mistake was to have a few DVD's, CD, and computer software which I had tucked way down in my bag (no porn). I really don't know what they are looking for or what they expect I might be sneaking into the country. My bf won't fit in the luggage. Of course all the time the guy is going thru my luggage he is asking questions to which I am giving only short answers. The guy turned on the camera and found a few pics of the boyfriend. Now my bf is 40 and there was nothing very graphic at all but he must have found them interesting as he went thru all 10 pics. Also contained a few pics of the gay parade. I flat out told the guy the pics were of my boyfriend thinking there was no point in being coy about the whole thing. He did seem to take a special interest in my phone book which is a zippered case with credit cards and scraps of paper. This was when I really started to get somewhat irritated as he seemed interested in every scrap of paper. If I was some real threat to US security would I be putting stuff on pieces of paper in a phone book? The guys was courteous enough and not arrogant at all. But the whole thing with the personal stuff is just more than I think is necessary. When all was said and done and after about a half hour he went to the computer and entered whatever it is they enter and came back and mentioned that he noticed I had been stopped 6 times over the last 4/5 years. He told me I could keep the pirated dvd's, etc. Go figure! It is always a hit and a miss about getting stopped but I am convinced this really is a waste of everyone's time. This whole hunting for pictures is pointless. If one really wanted to get some questionable or embarassing pics back you could just get a couple of email addresses and email them to yourself and pick them up in an internet cafe back home. All so pointless to put them on computer or camera. It certainly has nothing to do with homeland security. No doubt in my mind it is just people trying to justify their jobs and everyone knows that this homeland security stuff is a bunch of crap. Typical government bureauracy gone out of control.The southern border of the USA is so porous why would a terrorist, drug smuggler, etc. need to come on a plane.

The final insult is when I struck up a conversation with a lady going thru a similar process (not as bad) who had also come from Thailand. When I told her I had gone to Phuket for the Nation Party (I mentioned gay circuit party in the process) she gave me a look and told me my life style was a choice and that there was help for me. I told her not to go there and took off. That was just the perfect end to my experience arriving home. Is there any wonder I can't wait to retire and get out of here? Between Bush and the religious right, they have this country so f---ed up, there won't be any civil liberties left if they have there way.

I was a little perturbed over the dumb, pointless questions asked the past few times I reentered until I realized that the questions were probably from someone thinking about getting out of that mess, as well.

Did u marry over there?

What do u do if you don't work?

"The final insult is when I struck up a conversation with a lady going thru a similar process (not as bad) who had also come from Thailand. When I told her I had gone to Phuket for the Nation Party (I mentioned gay circuit party in the process) she gave me a look and told me my life style was a choice and that there was help for me. I told her not to go there and took off. "

Don't take it the wrong way but you gave me my first laugh of the day ! :blackeye:

It isn't just the USA-my experience's have happened in Australia but I think we know who taught them !

Surprisingly I have been allowed to keep my pirated DVDs but I don't keep them anymore a I know many people in the film industry and it makes me feel a bit guilty ( not about the overpaid stars of course). However I do buy them in Pattaya and give them to Thais-it's a mind bending job wanting to keep local Thais in cash and manage your personal ideals !

It does make you wonder though what many of these games are about- in the USA anyone intending harm would come in a business suit with every thing in order or just cross the border and bi-pass immigration.

Likewise in Australia where the government screamed refugees arriving in leaking boats and fleeing from Iraq or Afghanistan could be intent on doing us harm. Anyone serious would simply fly by 747 .

I've had similar treatment at UK customs and immigration-who I believe can be the rudest (unlike the wonderful population) but haven't experienced anything like it in Germany, Spain , France or Italy.

[bucknaway]

The customs worker is allowed to allow a few items of questionable origin. If all you had were a few fake DVD's then he can let you keep them as long as you don't have too many like when I came back with about 20 of them :(