CUNNING MAIL ROBBERY

Evening Star, Issue 19710, 10 November 1927, Page 10

CUNNING MAIL ROBBERY

SEALS OF BAGS INTACT VALUABLE PACKAGES ABSTRACTED fi’Eit United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, November 9. A bap; of English mail which reached Auckland on Tuesday was found to liavo been cut open, and a number ot packages, some of considerable value, stolen. , , 'Li, Tho bag was one ot a consignment or 821 bags of English. Eastern, and Australian mail brought to Auckland from Sydney by tho Union _ Company’s steamer Manama, tiro English mad having reached Australia by the Suez route. The theft was carried out in such a manner that it was not apparent until the bag reached its final destination. "Leaving the seals and fastenings intact, tho thief had cut a long slit near the mouth of the bag, and then had abstracted the contents through tho opening. The slit was hidden in the folds of the nock of the bag in such a way that it would pass unnoticed unless the ling was subjected to minute examination. The bag contained a Loudon-to-Auckland mail, including a smaller bag of registered matter. Tho robbery was not discovered until the bag was opened in the mail room at the Chief Post Office. It was thou seen that tho contents of some packages had been abstracted, and the contents of others (as well as addressed empty covers) were lying loose at the bottom. The. contents of two packages of a valuable nature were stolen by the thieves, but the postal officials are reticent as to what these packages contained. r The owners of some of the pillaged packages are known by tho addresses, on the covers, but it is possible that a number of packages were taken 'by the thieves intact, and it will he a long time before it is known what number of packages tho hags originally contained. It is thought that the robbery took place on the' high seas while the mail was in transit between England and Auckland. , Exactly where, however, is problematical, because of the number of times the mail had to ho handled during the different stages of tho journey. ' Tho thief, or thieves, possibly lin’d somo inside knowledge when they picked out and, cut open a hag that contained another ono with registered matter, for there was nothing on tho outside of the bag to indicate what its ■contents were.