The Never-ending Battle Against Drug-smugglers

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30401, 28 March 1964, Page 5

The Never-ending Battle Against Drug-smugglers

[Specially written for "The Press” by A. L. KIDSON] r THE discovery in New Zealand of a considerable traffic in hashish, bhang, or marijuana will come as a shock to our national conscience. And well it might, for this deadly drug has disastrous effects, and addiction, if widespread, could become a menace to the national well-being.

There is more than a possibility that the plant from which it derives—cannabis, or Indian hemp—is now being grown here. So concern might well give way to alarm, with a call for swift action.

A native of India, this plant found its way, some 13 centuries back, to Syria and the Lebanon, where its [‘value” as a narcotic and an intoxicant has been highly developed. And the production of hashish has been described as being now in the- blood of the Lebanon.

• One turbulent tribe, in the Alouite district, would smoke hashish before committing acts of violence. Arid so they became known as the “Hashasheen” (hashish-eaters) from which we get our word “assassin.” Street Resin

Used legitimately for ropemaking, the hemp plant grows to a height of two feet, with a single straight stem. It has dense foliage, and bears, when near maturity, small buds containing a sweetsmelling resin.

■ From this resin a concentrated drug is made. But the dried leaves also are chewed or smoked, for their soporific or stimulating effect. The mature plant is carefully cut and sun-dried. And a.plot of only 50 yards square will yield a crop' worth' £l5O. This is sold to traffickers, who make immense profit. A kilo of hashish, bought from the grower for only a few pounds, can be sold in Egypt for anything jip to £250. Cairo, traditionally, is the main trade centre; and drugrunners use some amazing devices to get their dope across the international boundaries.

During the British regime in Egypt, the Narcotics Bureau at Cairo, headed by the brilliant Russell Pasha, helped to imprison 5550 persons in one year alone for drug offences. Yet for every one caught, at least a dozen have continued to operate. Routine Methods Routine dodges, such as the false-bottomed suitcase; the Arab fisherman Who takes the stuff across the Red Sea in his dhow; and the desertroving Bedouin who conceals it in his clothes, are well enough known—though difficult to counter.

One suspect, who arrived at Port Said with his wife and . two children, had attached his quota to the stomach of a child. This earned him two years’ im-

prisonment and a £2OO fine. His wife was fined a similar amount and gaoled for one year.

Arabs frequently swallow the stuff—in metal cylinders or rubber tubes—-then trust to nature for its recovery. Some over-estimate their capacity, as revealed by the following official reports:— “A man was found dead at Sheikh Zewaid and taken to hospital, where a post-mortem examination produced four rubber tubes containing 250 grammes (about half a pound) On the same day another man was found seriously ill , nearby and taken to hospital. . . .• “Three rubber tubes were taken from bis- stomach, but he died three days later. At the post-mortem examination another tube was found. . . . Found in the stomach of a man picked up dead at Mabwala, tubes containing 280 grammes." And so it goes on. In Stomachs

A favourite way of sending hashish across the frontiers was inside the stomaches of camels. This, too, was difficult to detect, without slaughtering the animal. And since 30,000 camels enter Egypt every year at Kahtara, on the Palestine border, the drug-control authorities faced a knotty problem. They. enlisted the aid of science to solve it. Veterinarians conducted experiments

on camels to discover possible means of administering the cylinders, symptoms indicating their presence, and the time the cylinders could remain inside the camel without endangering its health.

The first “experimental" camel had a tough time. In one day it was fed no fewer than 30 metal cylinders, each holding 250 grammes, at oneminute intervals. Drinks of water were given when the animal showed difficulty in swallowing. Passage Checked Next day is was found to be quite normal in pulse, temperature, appetite, rumination, and general health. But a close examination revealed something very important: the passage of the cylinders had been checked by an abdominal cartilage, and there they banked up.

When touched at this place a slight tinkling sound resulted, best heard about six hours after the camel had had a meal. No further symptoms resulted; so it was clear that the animal could keep in its interior 30 cylinders containing about 201 b for 30 days without ill-effect. The next step was to devise a detector which magnified the sound the cylinders made.

And so another great victory was notched in the never-ending battle—which now extends to New Zealand the hashish peddlars.