Thieves raid liferaft

Press, 15 March 1978, Page 1

Thieves raid liferaft

Thieves, apparently in search of morphine, have again raided liferafts in Lyttelton fishing boats. Two rafts were stolen from the fishing boats lan and Triena on Friday night, and were later found broken open and abandoned on the Summit Road. The Lyttelton police say thieves were wasting their time, because after a similar spate of raids on fishing boats last year fishermen removed all drugs from the rafts. But the fishermen are anxious that the public understand that drugs are no longer carried on rafts, because once'■Kiac’ted the rafts inflate automatically and it costs about $2OO to repack them. Both rafts stolen on Fri* day were stowed on top of the cabins. A man sleeping on board the Triena was not disturbed by the thieves. The police have suggested that fishermen padlock their rafts while in port, but the fishermen have been unwilling to take this step, for fear of forgetting to unlock them before putting to sea. In January last year four rafts, ■ valued at $4400, from four Lyttelton fishing boats, were ransacked.