JAPANESE LINER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 7

JAPANESE LINER

Attempted Smuggling Of U.S. Currency IMPORTERS' LIBEL, ACTION Rec. 10 a.m. NEW YORK, Aug. 1. A message from San Francisco states that the departure of the Japanese liner Tatuta Maru received an unexpected check when importers filed libel actions seeking the possession of her valuable cargo, which includes 2,500,000 dollars' worth of silk. On top of that millions of dollars of contraband United States currency had been smuggled aboard. Customs agents began opening every safe deposit box and searching every stateroom. The Tatuta Maru, with a large list of anxioiis passengers, hovered off the coast for six days before docking, until an assurance was received from the Customs Department granting a clearance, but the ship's movements are now in the hands of the Justice Department. As a Washington sequel to three libel attachments by importers, the Treasury Department has decided to allow the Tatuta Maru to discharge her entire cargo, including a large quantity of silk and furs, because the Justice Department said the ship could not sail pending the settlement of the claims. Earlier, Mr. Sumner Welles said the attachment actions did not modify or change the official assurances regarding the clearance of Japanese vessels. The Washington correspondent of the United Press says the recent seizure of 19 Japanese fishing vessels in Hawaiian waters represented a partial round-up of spies. Informed persons stated that, in addition to the crews, including officers of the Japanese Naval Reserve, some of the vessels carried complete sets of hydrographic charts of the Hawaiian Islands. The vessels flew the American flag, but an investigation revealed their real owners were Japanese.