KIDNAPPER OF CARGO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 June 1941, Page 5

KIDNAPPER OF CARGO

PRO-NAZI CAPTAIN ' CAPTURED HUNGARIAN STEAMER 1 (Rec., 9.0 a.m.) Batavia, June 18. 1 Co-operation between the Dutch and Australian authorities ana a commer- | cial aviator brought about the arrest of the Hungarian steamer Nyugat in the Timor Sea. It is revealed that the Nyugat disappeared with a cargo of Australian flour which was shipped ! in Fremantle for Shanghai and was valued at £170,000.

Pier pro-Nazi master, Captain Zoller. ignored the course which the naval authorities had allocated for him and attempted to sail to Dilli and thence to Formosa, where he hoped to tiansfer the cargo to Axis Interests. The captain had the Hungarian flag painted out from the ship’s sides and replaced with extensive camouflaging. All this was done in 24 hours at sea.

His attempt to run the blockade was ; however, shortlived, and the ship was captured by the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer, a prize crew from which was well received by the crew, a mixture of Hungarians and Yugoslavs with four negroes and six Chinese.

Captain Zoller appeared furious and called his crew traitors and accused them of sabotage for not making better speed.

It is revealed that the crew had been in a mood bordering on mutinous and had nicknamed the captain "Hitler” and the chief engineer "Mussolini.”

| Members of the crew said the capi tain paid them in Australia with cheques drawn on his private account iin an American bank. He used the company's money for his own purj poses. Sixteen hundred United States dollars was found secreted in his clothing and the luggage of the captain's wife, who was also aboard the ship.

The Nyugat will probably fly the Di tch flag in future.—U.P.A.