PHUKET: An international row has erupted over the arrest of a young French couple and their 22-month-old child. The family arrived on a flight at Phuket International Airport and left the terminal without being processed by Immigration.



In all, 10 passengers from a Qatar Airways flight took a wrong turn earlier this month before collecting their bags and walked out into the humid Phuket air without arrival cards or visas.



The blunder was only discovered days later when the honest French couple, on their first trip overseas, took the trouble to return to Phuket airport so the error could be corrected.



Instead of behaving with good grace and gratitude, Immigration officers arrested the French couple with their young daughter and took all three to a police station not far from Phuket airport to be charged.



The couple were later made to appear in court, fined and sentenced to a suspended jail term, then at the end of their holiday escorted onto a departing flight as though they were criminals being deported.



Incensed French embassy officials are now asking questions at the highest levels on Phuket and in Bangkok about why the young family was treated in such an appalling fashion on what should have been a pleasant Phuket vacation.



It's not known what the outcome was for the other seven passengers on Qatar flight QR624 on May 4 who also took a wrong turn and bypassed the normal Immigration process before collecting their luggage at Phuket airport.



The likelihood is they were not arrested, were not fined, and will not be treated like criminals when they depart from Phuket.



Phuketwan has a list of the passengers' names but does not plan to publish it at this stage. The list includes the French family and another French woman, two Jordanians, a Russian, a Lithuanian a Kuwaiti and a Lebanese.



Instead of joining the other 110 passengers off QR624 in filing to the Immigration arrivals hall before picking up their luggage, the 10 took a wrong turn, collected their luggage, then left through a Domestic exit on the evening of May 4.



The first-trip holiday family did not realise anything was amiss. Then on May 8 they went to book a day-trip around Phang Nga Bay.



The person making the booking checked their passports and told the couple they should have visa stamps and arrival cards.



The honest pair went straight back to Phuket airport, where Immigration officers questioned them. Five staff from Qatar Airways also became involved.



Soon after, Immigration escorted the family to Tachatchai Police Station, in north Phuket, closest police station to the airport.



There, at least one police officer is believed to have questioned the wisdom of charging the adults with illegal entry. A Qatar Air representative was with the family.



Immigration insisted that the couple be charged and also insisted on a letter being provided by the French Ambassador before the couple were granted bail of 20,000 baht each.



The airline met the bail terms.



The French couple, travelling overseas for the first time with no intention of entering Phuket illegally, appeared in Phuket Provincial Court on May 9.



At first, officials said they would have to wait in the cells but the presence of the 22-month-old child encouraged officials to make an exception and allowed them to wait in a staff room.



A judge fined the couple 2000 baht each for entering Phuket illegally and imposed a sentence of two months' jail, suspended on condition they were of good behavior for one year.



The couple and their daughter boarded a flight home yesterday, having been made to wait until all the other passengers were on board before being escorted to the entryway by an Immigration officer.



An undated letter from BAGS Ground Services, addressed to the Superintendent of Immigration at Phuket International Airport, has been sighted by Phuketwan.



The letter notes the ''misunderstanding'' by 10 passengers from QR624. BAGS handles luggage arrangements for Qatar Airways at Phuket International Airport.