Darwin award latest! Tax evading Italian with 500 million baht watch planned to fly out same day

[webfact]

Darwin award latest! Tax evading Italian with 500 million baht watch planned to fly out same day

 

Thai caption: Evading tax

 

An Italian man was stopped at Bangkok's main airport carrying a 500 million baht diamond encrusted watch. 

 

He hoped to breeze through the green Nothing to Declare channel. 

 

But customs officials became suspicious because they didn't think he was a tourist.

 

Why?

 

Because he was in possession of a flight out the same day. They thought: Mmm....what tourist does that.

 

A search of his bag revealed a Jacob and Co Swiss Made Billionaire watch with diamond encrusted strap.

 

The name Silvano. W. was on the documentation. The arrested man had arrived from Hong Kong.

 

Picture: Thai PBS

 

The watch was seized and now the Italian owner is in negotiations about paying 61 million baht in duty to get it back. 

 

The Darwin award is often mentioned regarding dumb lawbreakers. Just yesterday a Thai man was caught trying to return stolen gold for sale at a gold shop he had stolen it from. 

 

Now the Italian due to fly out the same day is providing stiff competition. 

 

Source: Thai PBS

 

 

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[ezzra]

Bit far fetched and embellished of a story, as someone who knows watches and diamonds, for a watch to e worth that much it had to be one of the very few ultra rare one of encrusted with many one carat and over many D flawless grade diamonds...

[colinneil]

A SHORT chubby man was seen ogling the watch, drooling over it.... Saying  .... Can i borrow it please.

[RichardColeman]

Screams bunged 'tip off' to me

[Orac]

Clearly he is just delivering this to someone and is not necessarily the owner. Wonder if this story (and the watch) will quietly disappear soon...

[chickenslegs]

Darwin Award?

[Chazar]

42 minutes ago, colinneil said:

A SHORT chubby man was seen ogling the watch, drooling over it.... Saying  .... Can i borrow it please.

Only after the owner is  dead

[smedly]

be very interesting to know who the watch was for and where they got the money from

 

an interesting take on money laundering and why the Thai baht remains where it is

[neeray]

Shucks. And here I thought my 250 million baht watch was high-end.

[inactiveposter]

My understanding of the Darwin Award was for people who remove themselves from the gene pool, not just stupidity.

[cornishcarlos]

48 minutes ago, Chazar said:

Only after the owner is  dead

 

And only then could he receive a Darwin award 

[kotsak]

2 hours ago, Orac said:

Clearly he is just delivering this to someone and is not necessarily the owner. Wonder if this story (and the watch) will quietly disappear soon...

We can imagine for whom it was.. ????

[Jane Dough]

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

A SHORT chubby man was seen ogling the watch, drooling over it.... Saying  .... Can i borrow it please.

Hang on Colin...you weren't there were you?

 

Rooster ????

[Chelseafan]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

be very interesting to know who the watch was for and where they got the money from

 

an interesting take on money laundering and why the Thai baht remains where it is

I think we all know who the watch was for

 

 

[justin case]

wait, why 61 million ?

 

no 300 percent luxury tax on that item ?

[Lacessit]

My 6000 baht smartphone tells me the time just as well, and does a lot of other things besides. Why would one want to carry something on their wrist that would tempt any thug to cut their arm off?

[MaiDong]

3 hours ago, inactiveposter said:

My understanding of the Darwin Award was for people who remove themselves from the gene pool, not just stupidity.

Correct. 

[MaiDong]

"The Darwin award is often mentioned regarding dumb lawbreakers. Just yesterday a Thai man was caught trying to return stolen gold for sale at a gold shop he had stolen it from."

 

Incorrect. 

 

I've never heard of the Darwin Award being mentioned in regards to dumb law breakers. 

 

From darwinawards.com;

'The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it in a spectacular manner!' 

[LawrenceN]

5 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Darwin Award?

Me too. Darwin Awards are for people who remove themselves from the gene pool, either by death or, in rare cases, by destroying their reproductive organs, thereby moving evolution forward by selecting against stupidity. Not just any stupid criminal qualifies.

[Dap]

5 hours ago, inactiveposter said:

My understanding of the Darwin Award was for people who remove themselves from the gene pool, not just stupidity.

True, but still only a matter of time 

[IAMHERE]

5 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

6 hours ago, Chazar said:

Only after the owner is  dead

 

And only then could he receive a Darwin award 

Do fat ladies sing in jail for farang ?

[craighj]

A Jacob and Co “billionaire” watch is worth US$18,000,000 so +500,000,000 Baht.  He must have had one wealthy person he was delivering to!!!

[rgraham]

He will have to die to receive the Darwin award.

 

[BestB]

Call me a cynic but there is more to this story than meets the eye.

 

For starters, green lane hardly ever manned and when it is they too busy chatting away or playing on the phones .

 

secondly, half a billion baht watch is not something that you see on daily basis or may never see in your life . Most certainly not on tourists . Fact that customs spotted it and thought it was of high value makes me think they were waiting for him .

 

perhaps whoever ordered the watch decided to get it at a cheaper price ????

[marquis22]

7 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Darwin Award?

"The Darwin award is often mentioned regarding dumb lawbreakers."

[jackdd]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

But customs officials became suspicious because they didn't think he was a tourist.

 

Why?

 

Because he was in possession of a flight out the same day. They thought: Mmm....what tourist does that.

How would customs know when his flight out is just by seeing him?

This was obviously a tipoff

[DaRoadrunner]

Floyd Mayweather bought one. A gross ugly looking thing (er, the watch that is!)

 

 

[richard_smith237]

6 hours ago, Lacessit said:

My 6000 baht smartphone tells me the time just as well, and does a lot of other things besides. Why would one want to carry something on their wrist that would tempt any thug to cut their arm off?

 

Two points to raise about this comment:

 

#1) ‘I can tell the time on my smart phone’ is point commonly used by those who fail (either deliberately so or through naivety) to point out the pointlessness of watches, the same could be argued for any item of jewelry or designer wear etc and even cars, all of which can get from A-B etc etc...  Its just an item of jewelry and in many cases these items increase in value over time.

 

#2) Someone who can afford such a vastly expensive watch is unlikely to find themselves in a position to be exposed to a ‘snatch thief’ or thug. Equally so, they are unlikely to be wearing the item on a day to day basis. 

One of Prawit's watches, the Richard Mille, is worth about 5million baht - its unlikey he is ever in a position to be exposed to thievery such as you mentioned. On the other hand I face a higher risk of having my phone or watch snatched. 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, BestB said:

Call me a cynic but there is more to this story than meets the eye.

 

For starters, green lane hardly ever manned and when it is they too busy chatting away or playing on the phones .

 

secondly, half a billion baht watch is not something that you see on daily basis or may never see in your life . Most certainly not on tourists . Fact that customs spotted it and thought it was of high value makes me think they were waiting for him .

 

perhaps whoever ordered the watch decided to get it at a cheaper price ????

 

I’ve been passing through the green channel for the past 20 years, firstly at Don Muang and for the past 14 years or so through Suvarnabumi - not once have I been stopped by customs. 

I wonder how many people have never been stopped. 

 

Something very strange going on with this story, the ‘tip off’ seems most feasible, if one were to enjoy a little conspiracy there would also one a tendency to agree with your last comment 'whoever ordered the watch decided to get it at a cheaper price’ !!!! some sneaky goings on !!!

[TheGhostWithin]

6 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I’ve been passing through the green channel for the past 20 years, firstly at Don Muang and for the past 14 years or so through Suvarnabumi - not once have I been stopped by customs. 

I wonder how many people have never been stopped. 

 

Something very strange going on with this story, the ‘tip off’ seems most feasible, if one were to enjoy a little conspiracy there would also one a tendency to agree with your last comment 'whoever ordered the watch decided to get it at a cheaper price’ !!!! some sneaky goings on !!!

I have been stopped twice, my wife once - in 12 years of trips at least twice per year. Never had any issues, though.