Contraband Detected By Sound

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30155, 12 June 1963, Page 16

Contraband Detected By Sound

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON,

June 11.

The acute hearing of a customs officer led to the seizure of the biggest single amount of contraband ever on a ship in a New Zealand port

At Whangwea last month the officer detected that the port bollard housing on the VMi Noort had a lower tone when tapped with a hammer than did its counterpart on the starboard side said a senior officer of the Customs Department today In this hollow housing 164 transistor radios. 13 watches. 161 b of opium and four pairs of shoes were discovered Another six transistor radios were found behind a plate in a ventilator.

The officer, (Mr B. McKanny) assistant boarding inspector art Auckland, was a member of a special flying squad sent north to raid the ship which had made its first New Zealand call at Whangarei. Flying squads, a recent Customs Department adoption are based at Auckland, Wellington. and Christchurch and go to smaller secondary ports as the occasions warrant.

Mir McKanny’s suspicions were aroused when the port bollard housing did not give the same bellow sound as the starboard one. Its tone was much ‘Tower.” An examination was then made of the deck area for a concealed access. Measurements were taken but the raiding party found nothing Members of the party then went below to the bosun's store to inspect the housing from the bottom. There they found their path obstructed by a mass of wire nets but they were soon removed Using the same measurements

taken on deck, the officers found the two places on the port and starboard sides where the housings were situated

The starboard one was just ordinary decking with a thin layer of paint but the port one was covered with a thick layer of plaster, about threequarters of an inch thick and painted over. When a screwdriver was jabbed into the plaster a sound of air escaping was beard. When the plaster was peeled away it was discovered the steel deck of the ship bad been cut away and a plate, measuring 10m by 7iin had been loosely screwed in its place. The Van Noort is manned by Dutch officers and Chinese crew but no-one on board admitted knowing anything about the loot and subsequently no action could be taken. The seized transistor radios were not cheap, being of a type retailing in New Zealand for about £4O.

Although the goods seized ait Whangarei made the biggest single amount of contraband ever found in New Zealand. he did not think there was a sharp increase in snuggling into this country, said the customs official.

‘‘Our methods are getting better, and we have had one or two good catches The goods seized at Whangarei may not have been intended for New Zeeland but for Australia. I don’t think 161 b of opium was meant to be landed here. They could have been taking it on s round teip.”

New Zealand ports were not “wide open,” be said, and there had been no evidence of either cocaine or marijuana being smuggled There was also no evidence of Chinese trying to enter the country illegally as had been alleged in Australia. The number of translator radios seized at all New Zealand ports in the last 12 months was 1150.