WARNING ON HOLIDAY VIBE
SAUCY Brits who take sex toys on overseas breaks have been warned they could be breaking the law. Many holiday hotspots ban adult love props, and tourists face big fines or even jail for packing their toys, writes RICHARD BURNS.
Sex toys are illegal in Thailand, The Maldives, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, the Unites Arab Emirates and strict Saudi Arabia.
Now kinky device makers are warning British travellers to check local laws before packing vibrators and other gadgets.
They have warned that as well as facing embarrassing searches at customs, holidaymakers could end up in trouble. In Thailand, sex toys fall under the strict list of prohibited goods and are classed as “obscene items”.
In the Maldives they are even classified as “pornographic materials” and are prohibited.
And in India the century-old section 292 of the Indian Penal Code says any book, drawing, figure or object “shall be deemed to be obscene” if it fuels “lascivious or overtly sexual” thoughts and behaviour. Earlier this year Ted Andressen from New Orleans was stopped at customs when officials discovered a 12-inch sex toy in his carry-on luggage.
His dad had packed it as a practical joke and the video of the prank – and his son’s humiliation when it was found by officials – went viral.
A spokesman for the sex toy retailer Carvaka said: “For travel to those countries that don’t have sex toy bans, we do still recommend to discreetly pack adult toys, placing them into checked luggage where possible.” from