MAIL BAG ROBBERY

Northern Advocate, 10 November 1927, Page 6

MAIL BAG ROBBERY

CLEVER EXTRACTION WORK OF AN EXPERT. RELATED DISCOVERY.

AUCKLAND, This Day

A bag of English mail, which reached Auckland on Tuesday, was found to have been cut open and a number of packages, some of considerable value, stolen.

The bag was one of a consignment of .121 bags of English, Eastern and Australian mull, brought to Auckland from Sydney by the Union Company’s steamer Marama, tlie English mail 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 the fastening Intact, the thief had cut a long slit near the moulh of the bag, and then abstracted the contents through the opening. The slit was hidden in the folds of the neck of the bag in such a way that it would pass unnotised unless the bag were subjected to minute examination. The bag contained London to Auckland mail, including a smaller bag of registered matter.

.The robbery was not discovered until the bag was opened in the mail room at the Chief Post Office. It was then seen that the 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. The owners of some of the pillaged packages are known by tbe addresses on the covers, but it is probable that a. number of packages were taken by the thieves intact. It will be a. long time before it is known what number of packages the bag originally contained. f 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, being problematical, because of the number of times the maid had to be •handled during the different stages of the journey. The /thief, or thieves, possibly had some inside knowledge' when they picked out and cut open a. bag that contained registered matter. There was nothing on the outside of the bag to indicate what its contents were.