GERMAN FINED £3,681

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 December 1933, Page 14

GERMAN FINED £3,681

LIGHTERS SMUGGLED. LONDON, November 2. A German merchant, stated to be ■well known in the City, who, in the words of the prosecuting solicitor, “abused the hospitality of this country by setting himself out to organise a conspiracy to defraud the Customs, was at Clerkenwell Police Court yesterday fined £ 3,681/19/—double the duty-paid value of 17,113 mechanical lighters. The alternative was six months’ imprisonment. The accused, Cuno Dickhofer, 36, of The Hyde, Hendon, who had pleaded guilty, was recommended for deportation by Mr Bertrand Watson, the magistrate, who added that the recommendation would be acted upon at the discretion of the Home Secretary. The story of the smuggling. of mechanical lighters —“those little articles which so many smokers carry and then borrow a match”—from Germany, through the Irish Free State and’ Northern Ireland to England, was outlined by Mr F. R. Fisk, on behalf of the Customs and Excise Department.

He explained that on April 26 the duty on mechanical lighters was increased to 1/6 with the Object of protecting that particular industry in this country. The Commissioners of Customs and Excise were suing for treble the duty-paid value of the lighters, representing a. maximum penalty of '£5,522/18/0. ABUSE OF HOSPITALITY. “The prosecution alleges,” continued Mr Fisk, “that from the time the duty was increased the defendant has been abusing the hospitality which he has received in this country by setting himself out to organise a conspiracy to defraud the Customs and pocket the profits himself by evading the duty. “In this scheme he involved an unemployed Englishman —a man of straw —who was in a chronic state of ill-health, and was in receipt of parish relief until he fell into the clutches of Dickhofer. He was given employment as a clerk at £2 a week, and when Dickhofer decided to attempt this evasion of duty he gave.this man . the alternative of being discharged

or assisting him 'in this scheme of fraud. This man, Levinson, in his state of ill-health and financial embarrassment, agreed to assist, and various schemes were discussed between them.” The outcome, said Mr Fisk, was. that Levinson was established in Dublin as an importer, at the expense of Dickhofer. This was done entirely under Dickhofer’s instructions, and Dickhofer then ordered a quantity of mechanical lighters from his German dealers and arranged for them to be consigned direct from Germany to Levinson in Dublin. “As' soon as the consignments were collected in Dublin they were unpacked, and were then concealed in motor-cars, in the space between the upholstery and the seats,” continued Mr Fisk. “The cars were then driven across the boundary into Northern Ireland either by Levinson or by Dickhofer.

“As soon as the crossing of the border had been safely negotiated the cars were driven to a rendezvous in Belfast, the lighters were unloaded and packed into suitcases, and these were then sent to England either direct to Dickhofer’s customers or to Euston Station, where they were collected by Dickhofer.” “An elaborate scheme' of this kind is very difficult to detect, and might easily have gone on for years without being detected,” said Mr Fisk. “As it on by the defendant from May to is, it. has been successfully carried October. He has defrauded the Revenue of the sum of £1,275."