First off it is probably important that you know what durian is. It is a very stinky fruit that seems to have a love it or hate it reaction from people that try it. I'm in the 2nd category and find not just the smell of it to be off putting, but the texture and taste as well.
However, with Asians this fruit is very highly sought after and people will pay a rather huge price for it.
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There are many different varieties of this stinky fruit and various times of year spawn different varieties. If you are in Thailand especially near a market, you will know it is durian season because you will smell it before you see the market. Seriously, this is a truly pungent item to the point where many buildings and most hotels completely ban bringing it indoors. I was told by my landlord that it is forbidden to being durian into the building as if that was something I would ever do. Apparently, the scent permeates the walls and lingers for long periods of time.
I would never buy this stuff anyway and not because I am stingy but because I don't like it. But for the people that do like it there are always some bad apples out there.
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Here's where things get a little bit crazy in my mind. The scales were found to change the weight of a 4kg durian to 4.5 kg and I am guessing they used this weight amount because that's how much most durian fruit weighs? I have no idea. Regardless, according to police this would increase the cost of each sale by 75 Baht or just over $2. You can see how this could result in making big profits in the long term.
The woman in question who has not been identified by name is apparently not Thai, she is Vietnamese and well, I think this is a big part of the reason why this is in the news at all to begin with. Just like any other country in the world, Thailand loves to portray their own people as angels and foreigners as being the root of all problems. One only need look back to Covid times when all Covid cases were being blames on foreigners to the point where we were briefly not allowed on public transport even though I had been in Thailand since long before Covid even existed here.
I was also kind of amused about the crazy amount of laws that Thailand has in regards to weights and measurements as a very specific code was cited in regards to what had been violated here ( Section 26, Section 25, and Section 79 of the Weights and Scales Act (1999). What a crazy thing to have an act about and with so many sections. I think I could sum that up in one act: "knowingly using a dodgy scale."
The maximum penalty for this crime is up to 7 years in prison and a 280,000 Baht fine (just under $10,000).
Let me tell you how this is really going to pan out though. The woman will negotiate with the police, perhaps being forced to contact family members back in Vietnam to wire her money, she will bribe the police on the side and then she will never spend a single day in jail. Unfortunately, while they love to put things like this in the news, there is a reason why they don't put her name and it isn't to protect her.
If you are a foreigner in this country and you break the law you are going to have the opportunity to bribe your way out of it. You could see this as a blessing and a curse. On one side you have the ability to never go to jail, on the other side you could be targeted for crimes you didn't actually commit and when I see cases like this where they really go out of their way to point out that the person was a foreigner, I always start to think that the police are seeing dollar signs in their eyes.
It seem to me that 7 years in prison would be a bit excessive for ripping off a person here and there for a couple dollars but since that is the maximum penalty, it is probably reserved for far greater offenses than this one.
If you are ever in a market in Thailand and are concerned about dodgy scales please note that every market and supermarket that I have ever been in has multiple test scales around the perimeter that you can use to check the accuracy of the scales of the venders. If you are conned and are a foreigner I wouldn't get your hopes up about coming out on top because of this because almost always Thais will side with Thais even if they are wrong. It could make for a good undercover video though if you are more brave than I am.