Thai quarantine dodger faces fine

Thai quarantine dodger faces fine

The Foreign Affairs Ministry is investigating the detention of a Thai woman in Taiwan for violating self-quarantine requirements.

The ministry has confirmed a news report of the woman's arrest. She has reportedly been fined the equivalent of one million baht, which she says she cannot afford.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Cherdkiat Atthakor said the ministry is checking with the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei about the law and their execution by local authorities.

Local media reported the woman, whose name has not been provided, dodged the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine after arriving in the country on March 18.

Immigration authorities also discovered she had given a false address and phone number which prevented officials from monitoring her movements during the quarantine.

On March 26, the woman was stopped at a train station in Hualien on her way to the airport to catch a flight out of the country. Checks by the authorities showed she had intentionally defied the quarantine measure and she was subsequently escorted to a quarantine centre and ordered to pay a fine of 1 million Taiwanese dollars (about 1 million baht).

The quarantine office said the woman could not pay the fine and she is being remanded in custody pending trial.

She has also been barred from leaving the country.

It was also reported by a local TV station that the woman was the first foreign national to be subjected to the maximum quarantine fine.

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