Drug Squad in Sydney

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 263, 7 November 1939, Page 10

Drug Squad in Sydney

SUCCESSFUL RAID ON CAFE SYDNEY, Oct. 12. Following the arrest of Tang Huie, manager of the Tientsin Cafe, and a fine of £4OO imposed on him for having prepared opium in his possession, revelations which read like a Hollywood film story have been made of investigations by the Drug Squad of tho C. 1.8. into the trans-Pacific drug traffic. Tho detectives had known for a long time that opium was being sent in large cpiantities from China to Australia, where some of it was sold and the rest picked up by members of the crews of Pacific liners and taken to San Francisco. Some months ago this trade received a severe check when a seaman on one Pacific liner was arrested in Honolulu, found with opium in his possession, and gaoled. Since then the detectives have been concentrating more on the traffic in Australia. Sheer accident gave them an indication of how largo the trade was. Lato one night two Water Police officers at the picnic ferry wharf at Fort Macquarie saw two men in a dinghy close to the sea wall. When the police flashed a torch on the boat one man scrambled out of it and ran away, towards Circular Quay. The other, | dropping something over the side of the boat, seized tho oars and began to row madly into the harbour. Fugitive Escapes The police rushed to their launch but could not get the engine started right away, and by the time they had got it going tho fugitive was nearing Kirribili Point. . Tho police launch was only a few yards behind when tho man iu the boat ran it aground and raced to a waiting car in which he drove off. Next day, at the place where they had first seen the boat, the police fished up what seemed to bo a huge rope fender, but when it was cut open 155 tins of prepared opium fell out. The police believed that it had bpen smuggled off a Chines steamer then at Circular Quay and was intended to ba smuggled on to another steeamer bound for Vancouver, where opium was then selling at £7O a tin. Detective Sent Abroad. This lucky haul led to the widening of investigations with the aid of the police in New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, America and England, and a Sydney detective was sent to continue inquiries in Suva and Honolulu. It is said that he came back with “leads” of such value that tho Drug Squad in Sydney was able to discover the identity of the big men behind the Sydney drug trade. Their inquiries were not easily pursued, but they found a way round their difficulties. At one time, for example, while keeping a day and night watch on a Chinese cafe, they almost despaired of being able to obtain a line on certain men who visited the place. Not only was the cafe watched by Chinese, but police also found themselves being watched by other Chinese look-outs for gambling dens. Theu a detective had an inspiration and there appeared a constable in uniform on pedestrian duty at the spot. The ruse was a great success for the Chinese paid no atten Lion to him and the detectives were able to make their plans for a raid. Careful Plans Laid. Careful plans lay behind their visit to the Tientsin Cafe. A man recommended by G-men in Honolulu was on gaged as a seaman on an American steamer and on it made several trips across the Pacific. When in Sydney ho always visited the Tientsin Cafe and at last arranged to purchase some opium. The night he was to buy it, a man and a woman, obviously out for amusement, went into tho' cafe and sat down at a table. The Chinese waiter could not fail to notice a strong smell of rum about the man, but he did not know that the man was a policeman, who had sprinkled rum over bis clothes, and that his woman friend was a member of the women police. They watched while the American seaman discussed something with Tang Huie and as soon as the Chinese went into the kitchen, rushed in after him while the policewoman went downstairs to call detectives who had been waiting outside. One of them was DetectiveSergeant Gordon, and when Huie saw him he shrugged his shoulders and handed over a tin of opium. He knew Gordon well because the detective had his father, the owner of the cafe, convicted three times for a similar offence. The Commonwealth Government has reported to the League of Nations that seizures of opium in Australia, and in American and Canadian ports from vessels trading with Australia, indicate that Australian ports, particularly Sydney, are used as points for the transhipment of drugs brought here in steamers from China. It is also reported that the possibility that, Indian hemp (marihuana) is being cultivated somewhere in Australia is being carefully watched. Tho plant grows wild in several places in Australia.