Cannabis-oil trial soon

Press, 12 January 1977, Page 1

Cannabis-oil trial soon

<ZPA Sydney A former New Zealand ski instructor. Robert James Ongley. was yesterday committed for trial in the New South Wales District Criminal Court on two charges of importing and possessing cannabis oil. In the special Federal Court in Sydney yesterday, Mr Cooney, S.M., found a prima facie case and committed Ongley for trial, on S2OOO bail, at the next district court sitting on February 1. Asked if he had anything to say. Ongley told the Court that he was not guilty. In two previous hearings, the Court was told that Ongley, aged 30- from Christchurch, was arrested at Sydney Airport on June 9 last after Customs officers found about $200,000 worth of cannabis oil in two suitcases. The oil was sealed in the plastic linings of a typewriter case and cassette

case which were inside the suitcases, the Court was told.

Customs officers alleged that Ongley, accompanied by a woman, arrived with one of the suitcases in transit to Fiji. The pair had flown in from Singapore. The other suitcase had been off-loaded bv mistake in Sydney a week before, instead of being sent on to Fiji. An airport official discovered the oil by accident through a crack in one of the cases when he opened the bag for identification, thev said. Customs was notified and Onglev was arrested on arrival. The second suitcase was also allegedly found to contain oil. and was confiscated.

A chemist employed by the Commonwealth Narcotics Bureau in Sydney told the Court that he had tested the oil and found it to be the purified resin from a cannabis plant.