PHUKET: Governor of Phuket Maitree Intrusud yesterday explained away the arrest and punishment of a French couple with a young child by Phuket Immigration last month as ''a mistake.''
He even went so far as to suggest that the honest tourists, who went back to Immigration when they realised they had no visa stamps, were arrested because their airline had had several passengers arrested for carrying drugs in the past.
Readers of Phuketwan will be familiar with the appalling treatment of French couple Elodie Triche and Damien Della Libera, who with daughter Oxanna were arrested and fined when Immigration decided to treat them harshly for their honesty.
It's believed that Phuket Airport Immigration has since apologised to envoys, but not to the French couple, for the way their case was mishandled.
Yesterday Governor Maitree intervened to strongly defend Immigration's action in arresting the holidaymakers when they returned to the airport to get their visa stamps several days after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight.
He even questioned whether the issue should have been raised by Phuketwan journalist Chutima Sidasathian at the media conference with European Union Ambassadors following a seminar about tourism problems.
It had not been discussed at the seminar, the governor said, not quite making clear how Khun Chutima was supposed to know what had or hadn't been discussed behind closed doors.
There are still discrepancies between the account Governor Maitree said he had been given by Immigration and what Ms Triche says occurred.
The governor was told that Immigration and Tachatchai police had been proactive in apprehending the couple.
The couple say they went back to the airport where officials wanted them to sign a false account that would have made it appear that Immigration had discovered what had happened and acted to rectify it.
If the Immigration officials pushed the couple to sign a statement filled with lies, then that clearly falls under the category of the ''abuses of authority'' discussed by the EU envoys behind closed doors.
The couple's appalling treatment has yet to be properly explained. As French Ambassador Thierry Viteau said yesterday in response to the question: ''We wanted to know why they were arrested and of course lodged a complaint. We wanted to know exactly why they were arrested.''
He said envoys remained ''quite concerned.'' Danish Ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther also responded to the question, saying that ambassadors yesterday discussed ''abuses of authority'' and were concerned about ''extortion and harassment.''
He added that behind closed doors, the governor had given a ''very constructive'' response.
In an answer that appeared to be largely addressed to the Phuket media rather than the international media, Governor Maitree told how a group of eight to 10 passengers from the Qatar flight had taken a wrong turn, picked up their baggage, and left Phuket airport without passing through Immigration.
It was ''an easy-to-make mistake,'' the governor said. Airport and airline staff were ''working well but not well enough.''
Although it was the couple who alerted authorities to the mistake, the governor said: ''Tourists, they must know that they must have a visa stamp.''
It's still not clear whether the other passengers suffered any penalty after the French couple first raised the alarm that a group from the Qatar flight had gone out onto Phuket without visas.
The governor said the fine of 2000 baht was ''not big money, just little money.''
''If I had known, I would have paid their fine because it was a mistake,'' the governor said. ''This thing happened because Immigration were doing their job to 100 percent.''
He even went so far as to suggest that the honest tourists, who went back to Immigration when they realised they had no visa stamps, were arrested because their airline had had several passengers arrested for carrying drugs in the past.
Readers of Phuketwan will be familiar with the appalling treatment of French couple Elodie Triche and Damien Della Libera, who with daughter Oxanna were arrested and fined when Immigration decided to treat them harshly for their honesty.
It's believed that Phuket Airport Immigration has since apologised to envoys, but not to the French couple, for the way their case was mishandled.
Yesterday Governor Maitree intervened to strongly defend Immigration's action in arresting the holidaymakers when they returned to the airport to get their visa stamps several days after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight.
He even questioned whether the issue should have been raised by Phuketwan journalist Chutima Sidasathian at the media conference with European Union Ambassadors following a seminar about tourism problems.
It had not been discussed at the seminar, the governor said, not quite making clear how Khun Chutima was supposed to know what had or hadn't been discussed behind closed doors.
There are still discrepancies between the account Governor Maitree said he had been given by Immigration and what Ms Triche says occurred.
The governor was told that Immigration and Tachatchai police had been proactive in apprehending the couple.
The couple say they went back to the airport where officials wanted them to sign a false account that would have made it appear that Immigration had discovered what had happened and acted to rectify it.
If the Immigration officials pushed the couple to sign a statement filled with lies, then that clearly falls under the category of the ''abuses of authority'' discussed by the EU envoys behind closed doors.
The couple's appalling treatment has yet to be properly explained. As French Ambassador Thierry Viteau said yesterday in response to the question: ''We wanted to know why they were arrested and of course lodged a complaint. We wanted to know exactly why they were arrested.''
He said envoys remained ''quite concerned.'' Danish Ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther also responded to the question, saying that ambassadors yesterday discussed ''abuses of authority'' and were concerned about ''extortion and harassment.''
He added that behind closed doors, the governor had given a ''very constructive'' response.
In an answer that appeared to be largely addressed to the Phuket media rather than the international media, Governor Maitree told how a group of eight to 10 passengers from the Qatar flight had taken a wrong turn, picked up their baggage, and left Phuket airport without passing through Immigration.
It was ''an easy-to-make mistake,'' the governor said. Airport and airline staff were ''working well but not well enough.''
Although it was the couple who alerted authorities to the mistake, the governor said: ''Tourists, they must know that they must have a visa stamp.''
It's still not clear whether the other passengers suffered any penalty after the French couple first raised the alarm that a group from the Qatar flight had gone out onto Phuket without visas.
The governor said the fine of 2000 baht was ''not big money, just little money.''
''If I had known, I would have paid their fine because it was a mistake,'' the governor said. ''This thing happened because Immigration were doing their job to 100 percent.''
I've arrived last week in Phuket on a Qatar flight from KUL and I guess the turn supposed to take is the left just exiting the aircraft and we did so because staff was directing us. Without them, passengers could have easily taken the right turn. Even if there are signs like domestic arrival, not all passengers read and understand english. The answer of the Gov. seems to me appalling. Praise to PW and especially Chutima for following this subject. If Gov. Maitree considers what happened not deserving of being discussed during Tourism seminar meetings, I guess the last 3 lines of this article will scare the hell out of future potential foreign tourists. If I would be one of the french people without the stamp, I would think twice now before going myself to alert authorities. Better to declare my passport was stolen.
Posted by cekipa on June 15, 2013 17:52