MAIL BAG RIFLED

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19154, 10 November 1927, Page 11

MAIL BAG RIFLED

VALUABLE PACKAGES MISSING. NEAT WORK BY THIEVES. [THE FBSSS Special flurries.] AUCKLAND, November 9. A bag of English mail which reached Auokland on Tuesday was found to have been cut open, and a number of packages, some of considerable value, stolen. The bag was one of a consignment of 321 bags of English, Eastern, and Australian mail brought to Auckland from Sydney bv the I'nion Company s steamer JNlarama, tho English mail having reached Australia by the Sue* route. The theft was carried out m such a manner that it was not apparent until the bag reached its final destination.

Leaving the seals and fastening intact, the thief had cut a lou c slit near the mouth of tho bag, and thou abstracted tho contents through tlv» opening. Tho slit was hidden in folds of tho neck of tho bag in such a way that it would pass unnoticed unless the bag wns subjected to a niinuto examination. Tho bag contained London to Auckland mail, including a smaller bag of registered matter. Tho robbery was not discovered until the bag was opened in tho mail room at the Chief Post Office. It was then seen that tho contents of some of the packages had been abstracted, and tho contents of others as well as addressed empty covers were lying loose at the bottom. Tho contents of two packages of a valuable nature were stolen by the thieves, but tho postal officials nro reticent as to what these packages contained. The owners of some of tho pillaged packages are known by the addresses on the covers, but it is probable that a number of packages were taken by the thieves intact. It will be a long time before it is known what number of packages the bags originally contained.

It is thought the robbery took place on the nigh seas while the mail was in transit between' England and Auckland.* Exactly where, however, is problematical, because of the number of times the mail had to be handled during the different stages of tho journey. The thief or thieves possibly had some inside knowledge when they picked out and cut open a bag that contained another one with registered matter. There was nothing on the outsido of the bag to indicate what its contents were.