Quote Originally Posted by Pragmatic View Post
I thought that the only people that can take your passport was the people that issued it?
In a civilised country with a functioning rule of law a passport can be impounded by an authority other than the issuing authority under the direction of a criminal court, usually as a condition of bail.

Thailand is not such a place and the police do what they want. Technically, you can decline to give the police your passport until it is a court imposed condition but that would mean you banged up until a hearing can be arranged. Who would want that if it’s inevitable anyway.