MISSING GOLD BARS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10349, 12 March 1925, Page 3

MISSING GOLD BARS

SOUTH AFRICAN MYSTERY.

BANK LOSES £IO,OOO WORTH

The South African police have come to the definite conclusion that the bars of eold valued at £IO,OOO which disappeared in transit from the Standarc Bank, Salisbury, to London tow ai d the end of October were removed before they left South Africa. On October 27 a cone.gnms„t rf bullion on account of the btandai o Bank, contained in 24 boxes containing a bar of gold, left * en route to London via Ca etown The consignment was Bulawayo to tho mail ti ain . ■» ITI following day, and armed at Capetown on October dl. The consignment was transhipped tc the Armadale Castle, and on arriving in London it was found that in tnie boxes "ho bar of gold had Men substituted by lead of approximately the same weight as the gold. . . j Each of the stolen bars weighed about 501 b and ° f loss was placed at £IO,UW. Little has been heard of any developments in the matter, but the police have been closely pursum, investigations both in ' u tWc South Africa, and, as a result, th-re is reason to believe that ha arrived at the conclusion that the bai. , removed before the boxes left on

the Armadale Castle. , ft was stated at the time that the three boxes showed no signs of been tampered with the .serfs apparently being intact; but sine lias been discovered that the bo had been tampered with, alt no everything had been done to make , annear otherwise. While the se~ls vS intact on arrival in London it was found that the hoop iron round Si bos had been cut half-way up. The screws tad then “he side Amoved 5 Tl,°e £ of gold bad boon S 3, and tile bar of lead snbstr

tU Ti?e culprits then replaced the sicle removed 6 beforeTt loft the'Union.