“The topic of food is the most painful”: relocators are threatened with prison for gifts from Russia

The concept of “sausage article” was born among Russian relocators as a result of the bitter experience of the last month, when our fellow citizens in several countries of Southeast Asia almost thundered into local prisons for gifts from their homeland, brought at the request of fellow countrymen. Compatriots suggest that searching for long-term storage products in luggage is a way to figure out a guest who is “unpromising” in terms of spending at a resort and intimidate him so that he leaves. We found out how gastronomic habits can turn into a vacation for Russians not under palm trees, but on the bunk.

At a Thai airport, a couple with a six-year-old child who had arrived from the Russian Federation was examined in a suitcase, found a stick of raw smoked sausage, taken with them in case of “lack of understanding between the stomach and Thai cuisine”, and was told that the family faces 5 years in prison in a Thai prison (obviously, everyone three, since there was only one suitcase for all). According to the father of the family, Vyacheslav, having enjoyed the effect, the Thai customs offered the Russians to replace the prison term with a fine of 200,000 baht. (474 thousand rubles). And when the new arrivals categorically refused to sign the receipt for the fine, they photographed their passports and “temporarily released them.”

The continuation of the story is still unknown, but some compatriots are sure that the real purpose of the action was to scare away tourists arriving with their “dry rations”, since the profits of the local tourism industry clearly do not shine from them. This version is supported by the fact that the ban on the import into the Kingdom of Thailand of “any food products, including plant seeds, without a phytosanitary certificate issued by Thailand” exists, but for individual tourists with “long-lasting” gifts from home in a suitcase, it never was not applied. And along with the talk that the influx of poor relocators from the Russian Federation “strangles local businesses and ruins the tourism industry,” this law, designed for wholesalers, also surfaced. At the same time, customs threats, according to those who received them, differ in “years and thousands”: one is 5 years and almost half a million rubles for one stick of sausage, while others are 10 times less fine and 4 years less for a whole suitcase of buckwheat , collected by order of compatriots in social networks.

– Now it’s not easy for anyone, so we order long-term storage products (smoked sausage, canned food, buckwheat, homemade twists, etc.) in chats from those who are on the suitcase in our direction, they usually ask us for advice on all sorts of pressing issues, – shares a Russian relocant who settled in Phuket. – It is also convenient for us, so as not to spend cash again, and products in Thailand are very expensive. And brand new ones, since we pay them on the spot in baht, and for the first time they don’t have to fool around with the exchange. It seems to us that the Thais have figured this out and are now trying to get rid of the rogue with food in their suitcase.

– Many even carry fruits, which are cheaper than in Thailand! – Thai Minister of Agriculture Rapiphat Chantarasrivong is outraged. – For example, apples, persimmons and grapes. – We want to warn that such behavior is against the law, even if it is unintentional.

The minister confirmed that the Thai Ministry of Agriculture is working in conjunction with the country’s airports to prevent the import of any food into the Kingdom. The benefit from the official statement of the minister is obvious: now it is at least clear that the ban really exists, and was not invented by bribe-takers at customs. And the real size of the punishment was also announced: a fine for importing everything edible into Thailand – 20,000 baht ($580) and imprisonment for one year plus confiscation of “disputed property” – that is, those same gifts from Russia.

The statement of the department gave rise to a flurry of confessions from compatriots who had already been caught with “food smuggling”. Fortunately, none of them has been thrown into the local prison yet, most of them were simply seized goodies from their homeland, photographed their passports and issued a verbal warning. As a result of the exchange of experience about the thriftiness of Russians, legends are already being made not only in Thailand, but also in other countries of Southeast Asia, who dream of getting rid of non-paying long-steers at any cost. So the story is passed from mouth to mouth about 40 home-made meatballs, which were frozen by a caring wife to her husband, who was waiting for her with gifts at a Thai resort. The story turned out to be pure truth: the cook showed up on the Runet and explained that her husband didn’t like the local cuisine to such an extent that he didn’t eat at all, so she brought homemade cutlets, and also carbonade to feed the missus. According to her, “the topic of food in Tai is the most painful for many of our people.” And now it also turned out to be an unexpected, but extremely simple way to end up in an Asian prison, because, judging by the “coming-outs” of long-steers – winterers and relocators – what they just don’t drag in a suitcase. “By order of our people, we brought caviar, crabs, grayling and the flag of Magadan to Tai, it is always with us,” the most northeastern compatriots admit. At the same time, it turns out that Thais often do not pay attention to black caviar, because they do not understand that this is generally something edible.

“It’s better to find out where you can’t import anything, and sleep peacefully,” advises a lawyer with a customs specialization, Daniil Vainshtein. – And there are bans in many countries, they just are not activated in relation to the tourist flow, so we do not know about them. But they can be a great formal excuse to get rid of unprofitable guests. Did you know, for example, that it is forbidden to import any printed publications from books to magazines in Chinese into Indonesia, as well as Chinese medicines? And nothing made in Pakistan can be brought into India. And almost all countries in Southeast Asia banned the import of fruits and most food products. The reasons for this are both commercial (in a neighboring country, fruits and rice can be cheaper) and sanitary – in hot countries, saving on food can play a cruel joke.