A craze in Thailand for pampering lifelike dolls to bring good fortune does not seem to have done the trick for some vendors, who on Tuesday were raided by police on charges of tax avoidance.
Known in Thai as luuk thep (child angels), the dolls, which can cost up to US$600, were first popularized by celebrities who claimed that dressing up and feeding the dolls had brought them professional success.
Doll-mania has since taken off across deeply superstitious Thailand, with adults bringing the figures to Buddhist ceremonies, restaurants and even on planes, where they have reportedly been issued seats and served mid-flight refreshments.
Photo: Reuters
However, after Thailand’s police chief warned this week that the fad was going too far, officers on Tuesday confiscated more than 100 dolls and arrested three vendors in Bangkok for allegedly failing to pay import taxes.
“Mostly they imported [the dolls] from China,” said Colonel Kriangsak Kanrayawattanajaroen, deputy commander of the Bangkok Economic Crime Suppression Division.
He added that the vendors had avoided paying more than 100,000 baht (US$2,794).
The bust followed reports this week that Thai Smile airline was offering ticketed seats and meals to the dolls, accommodating owners who did not want to stow them as carry-on luggage.
Thai media published a leaked airline memo that defined the “child angels” as “a doll that is alive.”
The memo said the dolls should be placed in window seats so as not to disturb other passengers and that seatbelts should be worn during take off and landing, the reports said.
Thai Smile declined to comment when contacted by reporters.
On Monday, Thai police found a doll packed with 200 methamphetamine pills in an airport parking lot in the northern city of Chiang Mai.
“It’s the first case that traffickers have used a ‘child angel’ to traffic drugs,” Chiang Mai’s deputy commander, Colonel Mongkol Samphawaphol, said.
Thai anthropologist Visisya Pinthongvijayakul said that while the angel doll trend only started last year, the practice has roots in the ancient occult worship of preserved fetuses thought to contain a child’s spirit.
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