Customs to crack down on smuggled cash

The order came after the department, which has reported several cases of foreign arrivals smuggling cash into the kingdom, stopped a man hiding 50 million yen in cash in secret compartments of his luggage, which showed up on the airport x-ray machine.

“These suspects disguise themselves as tourists and operate in a similar way to drug smugglers,” Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said on Wednesday. “We suspect that the cash they are carrying is linked to criminal activities, therefore airport security and screening must be heightened.”

Arkhom added that the Customs has done an excellent job preventing the smuggling of illegal items into the kingdom including cash, drugs, and animal meat.

A news source from the ministry said that the number of persons caught carrying a large sum of cash without declaring it to officials at the airport, both on incoming and outgoing trips, had increased tenfold since the end of the Covid-19 lockdown. The most common foreign currencies are US dollars, euros, and the Japanese yen.

The Customs Department allows individuals to carry no more than 50,000 baht in cash in and out of the kingdom. For travellers to countries sharing a border with Thailand (Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia), as well as to Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province, the limit is 2 million baht.

However, those carrying more than 450,000 baht in cash must declare it to officials at the customs checkpoint.

For foreign currency, there is no limit for either incoming or outgoing trips, but those carrying more than US$15,000 or equivalent in cash must declare it to officials at the customs checkpoint.

Those who fail to comply with the regulations will be fined 10% of the amount exceeding the limit. The Customs Department will return the rest of the money to the traveller, but will report their information to the Anti-Money Laundering Office.