SWIFT POLICE COUP

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 210, 18 August 1933, Page 14

SWIFT POLICE COUP

FIVE ALLEGED PAKAPOO DENS THIRTY ARRESTS MADE WELLINGTON, Aug. 17. Simultaneous raids were carried out by parties of police this afternoon on five houses in Taranaki street, where it was suspected that pakapoo was being played. The police made a elean sweep of every house, arresting in all 30 men, nine of them Chinese and the remainder Europeans. They will appear in the Police Court to-morrow morning. The raid was remarkable mainly for its well-organised swiftness. The raiding party was composed of SeniorSergeant Scott, Sergeant Black, and nine constables, making about two officers to each house. The houses entered are in a group in Taranaki street. The police entered the houses simultaneously. There obviously had been no warning, and no trouble was experienced, the men giving themselves up without any attempt at opposition. In a very short time a crowd of several hundreds, with a good proportion of Chinese, had gathered outside the houses, but there was little excitement. The arrested men were taken to the Mout Cook police station, necessitating three separate trips by the police van. A large number of marked tickets and other exhibits were also taken away. Five Chinese, one from each house, will be charged in the Court to-morrow morning with using the premises as common gaming houses, and the other 25, who comprise four Chinese and 21 Europeans, will bo charged with being found on the premises without lawful excuse.