WATCH KEPT BY CUSTOMS MEN

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 19 August 1933, Page 11

WATCH KEPT BY CUSTOMS MEN

rjpHß most. watchful Boy Scoult. will be envious of tho vigilance of flic Customs officer in Melbourne who noticed that a woman leaving a liner in a fur coat recently had walked on amid a crowd of friends an hour earlier with nothing over her c.os'tunie, says the ‘ ‘ Aligns. ” Bult the officials are unmoved "It is all in a day’s work,” said 1 one. "We have to keep our eyes open when a bulging pocket may hold sufficient opium to supply a den for a week, or an innocent .stack of timber may conceal a bale of silk. Tiro Tanda looks inino'eoirt enough at the wharf, but yesterday wc found hidden among the dunnage about 4000 cigarettes wrapped iii, small packets, 500 cigars and' 20 yards of valuable silk.”

There is no end to the goods which have been confiscate! at the A ieitoria Dock amid Port Melbourne I>v the watchful Customs man. The haul of the last few mouths includes several fur coats, bales of silk, many pounds of tobacco, a few carrots, some opium, two tin's of cocaine and a cuckoo clock.

Discovering Ruses of Smugglers

The clock, an elaborately-carved inStrufheret, was found tied round a, man’s waist ail'd bulging out in front under his overcoat, as he walked. TheNineptitude of a. member of a. gang of stevedores aroused the -suspicions of the officials, and led to the discovery of one of the largest packages of opium. The presence of a suspicious bicycle’ betrayed the first known attempt to smuggle the dangerous drug cocaine inlt’o Australia- A tight waisteoat led to the discovery of 30 yard's of silk round a passenger’s waist, and a slight limp in the gait of a Chinese steward betrayed the fact that his shoes were stuffed with opium.

The smuggler of animals or bir-ds presents an easier target -to the eyes of the Searcher. A suspicious officer re ecutly searched a steamer in. vain fo-’-some love-birds which he believed to- bo on board. As a last resource he wan--dered around the deck whistling softly. A shrill answering whistle rewarded him. Under a stack of duiinage lie found a pair of crates holding 15 pairs of the precious birds, which are strictly contraband.