Beat Up By Customs Agent

[thaotsou]

I've had extremely bad times with the CKS customs. I think it's because I've been tagged on their database system. However each problem has been very different and quite surreal. Once I got "caught" for not having documentation stamp in my passport and was literally held for about eight hours. The reason I didn't have an arrival passport stamp was that when I arrived three weeks before there was no one on duty at customs and I just walked right thru. It was about 5 am and our plane was about six hours delayed so the staff might not have known any flights were arriving. But they were definitely hiding because I did poke my head around before going thru. I was heavily fined and treated like shit, finally the airline company bailed me out and allowed me passage on a later flight.
Another time I was stopped for inspection when I had a full set of video gear and some laser equipment that I was trying to get thru. I was passed from agent to agent then taken to a side room. The agent, I think he was a supervisor, accusd me of having counterfeit camera bags which was an impossible judgement cause they were a brand that was basically unheard of. He then proceeded to search everything. I had an blue laser diode that had been bought in Russia which was brand new and this he labelled as technology that was trade restricted at the time (bullshit). He brought out a box knife from a drawer, said that because of these violations I was in danger of forfeitting the gear. I kept calm but very clearly indicated that he would need to show me what right he had to do so without proof that I had violated any rules. He then called another agent on the phone and two agents joined us in the room. He then went over the situation with them in chinese.
Then he told me to take everything out of my bags for further inspection. He next took the box knife and began cutting up the bags as if there were secret pockets. I had remained very cool up to that point, but even with him tearing everything apart I did not lose control. He cut everything up rendering it all useless, gave me a few more hard presses about how I had done wrong then walked out of the room. One hour later I was told I could go. Luckily I had trash bags stashed in case it rained and I was able to get everything on two carts. I once again was able to call the airline and they sent a representative over and she (the gate manager) helped me wheel my belongings out the door and into a cab. The airline was actually pretty concerned about the situation.
A third situation occurred and I will at least say I was partly to blame. I overstayed my 60 day visa by about four hours. I didn't think to actually count the number of days and one of the months had 31 days in it. This as another stupid fiasco and I almost missed my plane except for the act that it too was delayed. So I lucked out. This wasn't that big of a deal but given how badly I'd been treated previously I was afraid that I might really be out of luck.
Being that I sometimes fall under the catagory of journalist and other times as a business person I've found that I might raise suspicions that are not easy to just brush away. I've never tried to figure out if I needed to laydown a bribe cause I don't know the custom and I hadn't done anything wrong.

[sandman]

If my friend wanted a full investigation, I would have told him to contact the Overseas Americans in Taiwan

Tee hee hee!

[Chewycorns]

If my friend wanted a full investigation, I would have told him to contact the Overseas Americans in Taiwan

Tee hee hee!

Who's the private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
Boomer
Ya damn right!

Who is the man that would risk his neck
For other OAT members?
Boomer!
Can you dig it?

Who's the cat that won't cop out
When there's danger all about?
Boomer!
Right On!

They say this cat Boomer is a bad mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I'm talkin' 'bout Boomer.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!

He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but Fred Frontier

[AndyO]

BREAKDOWN!


uh uh! Get on up! Shake dat ass...


Yo Boomer!

Can I get a "hell yeah?"

[why does it hurt when I p]

nO shit asholes like that make life harder for the rest of us. He is a lucky bastard, and an asshole.

[llary]

I can't help but think this story has been exaggerated along the line. I overstayed one day on a technicality/police dept. cock-up, which I was pissed off about but took on the chin and coughed up a NT$1000 fine. It wasn't the fault of the customs officers so I was courteous to them, and they were more than pleasant in return. They even offered me a cup of tea! Probably full of cyanide but I'd still rather drink that than deal with American customs.

A friend of mine was just recently assaulted by a customs agent at the overstay office in CKS Airport. It began as an argument over a fine for a day overstay. He got frustrated, put down some change and said it was all he had. As he walked away, the agent threw the change at his back, then ran up behind him, grabbed him by the collar and punched him in the back of the head, then threw him up against the wall, shouting "do you know who I am? I am a customs agent!" He broke away from the guy and ran. There was an airport employee with him who was helping him around the airport and was shocked by the whole incident. Eventually he ran into a couple American businessmen who helped him out and went back to the office. They paid the fine to the agent and he stamped a year ban from the country on my friend's passport. He wasn't planning on coming back to Taiwan, but still...

Ever heard of this type of thing happening?

[Hartzell]

According to my knowledge, overstay fines are best paid at the local foreign affairs police station before you go to the airport ......

I have dealt with people who overstayed their visas for decades, and by handling it this way we encountered no problems.

[llary]

Bob, you're funnier than sliced bread.

Last time I came into Taiwan was on a flight from Bali. I had been drinking rather a lot on the plane so needed to urinate quite urgently when I got off the plane. There was a terribly long line up and I didn't think I could hold it so I just had a whiz in one of those potted plants they have by the immigration counter. Well by god, you should have seen the fuss that created. About four or five women got out their cameras and started taking pictures and waving money, and then these big stupid looking security guys came and grabbed me by the arms and what with my pecker still pulled out and all there was piss flying all over the place! What a mess. Next they took me into a little room and all these ugly mean looking guys started yelling at me and acting like they were going to beat me up or something. I was starting to get really scared and then next thing I remember I am waking up in the hospital and my wife is there and she is crying all over the place. In the end I had to promise never to drink on the airplane again or to piss in the potted plants at the airport. I am not an expert in foreign relations or anything but I think that this was a terrible way to treat a distinquished foreign guest like myself.

[llary]

That's kind of hard when you didn't even know you'd 'overstayed' and your flight leaves in 35 minutes.. But still, I don't see the problem in going to the CKS office, being polite and just paying the fine.

According to my knowledge, overstay fines are best paid at the local foreign affairs police station before you go to the airport ......

I have dealt with people who overstayed their visas for decades, and by handling it this way we encountered no problems.

[JohnnyT]

This reminds me of the lovely time I have once when I arrived in CKS without my Taiwan passport and did not bother to get a Visa on my SA passport because I - alas - thought I had both. My very bad.

I was detained and locked up for the night also. The following day, after chatting to a few of the previous nights roomies, I was allowed to leave at which point they asked me to pay something stupid like US$100. I did so, and was glad to be out, well, not really out, I was getting on the next available flight back to HK (Which was fully booked for 8 days if I was going back to SA).

Anyway I spent 4 days living in HK intl airport standing by everyday for a flight out.

But I made so many connections in there. Some guys where in for fake Jap passports, some for smuggling, and many other weird unexpainables. But if I really wanted, in that one night, I found myself a source for 1. weed and coke in Taiwan, 2. a passportmaker (any passport in Asia - valid only for 3 months) and oh... I was offered US$2000 to deliver something someone pulled out of his you-know-what.

I had a great experience. The officials were great, but my co-op was flawless.