Second rifle found in murder investigation

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 3

Second rifle found in murder investigation

iNZPA Brisbane 11 I | Policemen investigating, (the Mount Isa triple mur-|i idei in north-west Queens-" land were handed a second;, rifle yesterday. ; semi-automatic .22 rifle I ■ found last week was also); being examined by police;! scientists yesterday, but de-1 tectives believe it was not '■ the murder weapon. The rifle was found in a dry iriverbed area used by camp-11 (ers; the police believe it was;l 'merely discarded. The police said yesterday, ,

however, that they had been handed another rifle by a t young Aboriginal youth who had found it in the general vicinity of the first find. I A police spokesman said that the second rifle — also, a .22 — was in very good: condition and found under a i tree on the road to Lake' Moondarra. near Mount Isa. Alice Springs police had earlier advised Mount Isa by radio that one of the victims; — Tim Thompson, aged 31, a New Zealander — was 1 believed to have taken a rifle with him when he left Alice Springs on a motor- t

: cycle tour of outback Queensland. Detectives at Mount Isa said yesterday that the rifle had not been found. Mr Thomspson was shot dead along with his girlfriend, Karen Edwards, aged 23, of Victoria, and Gordon Twaddle, aged 21, of New Zealand. A widespread police check was being made yesterday to (trace a Toyota Landcruiser used by a prime suspect, a man who looted the victims' camp at Lake Moondarra caravan park on the night of October 5.

Senior Customs Officer M. Simpson with some of the senior customs officers from overseas who examined customs methods at the Port of Lyttelton yesterday. Eleven senior customs officers from Nigeria, Lesotho, Malawi. Zambia, South Korea, Burma, the Philippines, the Solomon islands, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, and Malaysia are spending a few days in Christchurch as part of a 21-month course in New Zealand Customs — and customs. The officers will spend most of their time in Christchurch looking over their counterparts’ shoulders at Christchurch Airport before they go to Timaru. Their itinerary which doer not look arduous, embraced a Sunday picnic at Akaroa with local customs officers, their wives, and children, and they will be at Addington today for the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club meeting. For many of the officers it will be the first time they have seen trotters and pacers peform. Another novel experience was a Saturday night spent on the Mangere Marae in Auckland as official guests. The hospitality of the Maori people an ’ New Zealanders generally has impressed them greatly. “Life is much easier here,” said Mr John Unachukwu, of Nigeria. “Everyone is very approachable. You feel at home easily when you meet a New Zealander.” Mr L'naeh’ikwu controls a port which makes Lyttelton look small — Tincan Island, one of the two main ports of Lagos. He controls a staff of about 700 assisted by six helicopters. The port imported a lot of missionaries and manufactured goods, he said, and was similar to New Zealand ports in the type of imports handled. “But we don’t import many missionaries in New Zealand,” it was tentatively suggested. “No. Machineries,” he repeated, to the amusement of everyone. Mr Lnachukwu has been impressed to discover that, considering the number of employees at New Zealand ports, considerably more money is yielded than in Lagos. “The system also trusts people here,” he said, by wh’ch he meant that revenue collection in New Zealand was often done on paper, whereas in Lagos it was more of a physical exercise. All the visitors, most of whom have university backgrounds, have a working acquaintance with English, but in any case it seems that a smuggler is a smuggler in any language.