DRUG CHARGE IN AUCKLAND

Press, Volume C, Issue 29517, 19 May 1961, Page 19

DRUG CHARGE IN AUCKLAND

Man Pleads Guilty

(12 Z Press Association) AUCKLAND. May 18. Auckland police executing a search warrant in an Auckland man's home towards the. end of last month found in a drawer a tube containing 120 seeds, which were later found to be an Indian drug, the police pro-' secutor. Mr A. W. Jefferies, said before Mr W. S. Spence. S.M., in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court teday. The Magistrate convicted the accused, and remanded him until May 25. His name was suppressed. The man had pleaded guilty to having a dangerous drug in his possession on May 6. Mr Jefferies said accused’s name had been given to the police by Donald Michael O’Loughlin, after the latter’s arrest and subsequent charging with drug offences. O'Loughlin said the drug had been given, but not sold, to him by accused. The accused’s counsel, Mr D. B. Pain, said the seeds found in accused’s home had been given to him by a man. who later became a boarder, as "African marigold seeds.” “Boarder An Addict" The boarder was a drug addict, and accused "got rid of him.” The jar of seeds given to O’Loughlin had been left in the house by the addict. O'Loughlin had been represented to accused as a former policeman and a former prison warder, and the seeds had been given to him to give to the police. The Magistrate said that the accused had acted as “a particularly stupid fellow” in passing the seeds on to someone else, who was willing to sell them, and "pass the buck” on to him. The accused was allowed bail.