Act closes gap in Customs law

Press, 6 May 1978, Page 23

Act closes gap in Customs law

PA Auckland. The Customs Department has introduced a strong new weapon in the war against smuggling by amending its boat forfeiture laws to remove an obvious weakness which has hindered its work for many years. Under section 272 of the Customs Act, "every boat, vehicle, or animal used in smuggling goods, or in unlawfully conveying goods with the intent to defraud the revenue of Customs, or in the importation or conveyance of prohibited imports of forfeited goods, shall be forfeited.” This was a trap, said the chief Customs officer at Auckland (Mr R. Dare). “A boat was defined in the act as any vessel, other than a ship,” he said. “A ship was defined as any kind of vessel not propelled by oars. “Obviously, a boat had to be an oar-propelled vessel. This restricted any kind of forfeiture. It was a relic of the rowboat rum-barrel smugglings of more than 100 years ago.” Now, under clause 38 of the Customs Act Amendment No. 2, which came into effect recently, the words “every boat” have been omitted and the words “every vessel not exceeding 50 gross tons” substituted. The senior investigations officer at

Auckland (Mr D. Khouri) said the new legislation should now stop the growing use of small boats as “pick-ups” and "drugsmugglers.” It should deter would-be offenders because of the threat of losing their $lOO,OOO yacht. Another aspect of the new law which could see the downfall of “smugglerboats” is that it can be applied retrospectively. “If a yacht is caught in the physical act of smuggling the case is clear cut,” he said. “However, if investigations establish that a yacht was used in illegal operations in the past, they can now still forfeit the boat.” Mr Khouri said the previous loophole in legislation had been exploited in the past. A number erf runabouts were known to have hovered round wharves, taking packages tossed from ships. A number of packages are thrown off ships in coastal waters and picked up by yachts. In August. 1976, about $30,000 in drugs was dumped near Manly. Mr Khouri recalled other occasions were radios and drugs had been dumped in waterproof containers with light markers.

“It is a perpetual problem. Had the law been in force, we could have seized the lot,” he said.