Complaint about opening of mail

Press, 1 October 1983, Page 8

Complaint about opening of mail

Mr Owen Wilkes, who was sentenced to six months jail in Sweden two years ago for gathering information on military installations in Europe, will complain to the Ombudsman about the Customs Department’s opening his mail. Mr Wilkes has been living on the West Coast for almost a year during which time several items of his mail have been opened by the Customs Department. “I keep all my old envelopes and at least four of them have stickers which say, ‘Opened by Customs’,” he said. What worries Mr Wilkes is that his mail is not the only material opened by the customs.

“The Comptroller of Customs has asserted that it is going on all the time and not just with me,” Mr Wilkes said.

The Opposition spokesman on constitutional affairs, Mr G. W. R. Palmer, said that in his opinion the Customs Department had no authority to open Mr Wilkes’s mail and pass the information to the Security

Intelligence Service. “The Comptroller of Customs has said that mail from overseas addressed to Owen Wilkes was intercepted and referred to the S.I.S. because they believed it was seditious,’’ said Mr Palmer.

He said that the only power covering this was an Order-in-Council passed in 1920 which had subsequently been repealed.

“The action is of dubious legality and could be challenged in court,” Mr Palmer said.

“I feel customs officers have no training in what constitutes seditious behaviour in matters of this type. My belief is the department had no authority to send the letters to the S.I.S. and ought not to have done so.

“The law should be looked at seriously and the matter reformed. Even if that is not done the fact that customs officers are involved appals me. “I will take it up with the Minister of Customs,” he said.