Caught on camera

Any person who ‘catches’ someone smoking outside a designated smoking area at Phuket International Airport, Thailand, now stands to receive a B1,500 reward, according to a story in The Phuket News.

But it’s not a case of simply reporting the smoker.

According to the airport’s general manager, Thanee Choungchoonyone, speaking on Friday; to claim the ‘reward’, a person must see a fellow person smoking anywhere other than a designated smoking area, take a photo of that person and show it to airport staff. But to receive the reward, the smoker must be caught.

As from yesterday, the inside and outside areas of the six international airports operated by Airports of Thailand have been designated non-smoking, except for designated smoking areas.

The six airports are Phuket International Airport (PIA), Chiang Mai International Airport, Chiang Rai International Airport, Don Mueang International Airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport, and Hat Yai International Airport.

Thanee said the move was aimed at ramping up enforcement of the Tobacco Products Control Act B.E. 2017, under which PIA, a government facility, was designated non-smoking.

The News said also that he talked of a possible disturbance to non-smokers in and around the airport as being one reason behind the decision to offer rewards.

“There are six clearly marked rooms in the airport in which people are allowed to smoke,” Thanee said, before adding that anyone found violating the law would be liable to a fine of up to B5,000.