PHUKET: Immigration at Phuket International Airport has yet to explain why a French couple with an infant daughter were arrested and fined after they accidentally avoided being given visas on arrival.

The Vice President of the Phuket Tourist Association, Sarayuth Mallam, asked Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut today whether Immigration overreacted or not.

Governor Maitree said he could not respond because he did not know about the case. He said he would solve the problem if he had been informed, but he had not been informed.

There was no representative from Immigration at the meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall in Phuket City but the General Manager of Phuket International Airport, Prathuang Somkhom, was able to provide details.

Ten passengers from a Qatar Airways flight that arrived on Phuket early in May took a wrong turn and departed from Phuket airport without Immigration passport visa stamps or arrival cards.

Four days later, the honest French couple returned to the airport to have the error corrected. They were arrested, fined, and later put back on their holiday departure flight like criminals being deported.

The couple went back to the airport after being told by a bookings agent for a day-trip who looked at their passports that they needed visas and arrivals cards.

Phuketwan has since learned that the couple, who were on their first trip overseas, thought something was amiss and mentioned it to the taxi driver on the way from the airport to their hotel in Patong. The driver told them not to worry.

When the couple asked again at the hotel's reception counter, the receptionist also told them not to worry.

Airport General Manager Khun Prathuang admitted the airport was more difficult to navigate because of expansion construction work but said it was the responsibility of the airline to make sure passengers negotiated Immigration without problems.

France's Ambassador to Thailand became involved in the case when Immigration officers insisted he write a letter before the honest couple, taken to the local police station and charged over the incident, could be allowed to go free on bail.

Qatar Airways put up the bail of 20,000 baht for each of the adults. There was talk at one stage of charging the 22-month-old child.

Immigration officials went ahead and charged the couple despite advice from an officer at Tachatchai Police Station that it seemed an unreasonable thing to do.

The following day a judge fined the couple 2000 baht each for entering Phuket illegally and imposed a sentence of two months' jail, suspended on condition they were of good behavior for one year.

The couple and their daughter later boarded a flight home, having been made to wait until all the other passengers were on board before being escorted to the entryway by an Immigration officer.

It is not known whether the other seven passengers suffered any kind of penalty. A fourth passenger was also from France and others were from Jordan, Russia, Lithuania, Kuwait and Lebanon.

Governor Maitree said he would investigate the issue.

The article reporting the punishment inflicted on the honest couple has been read by more people than any other article on Phuketwan so far this month.