THIEF IN POST OFFICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18387, 1 May 1923, Page 7

THIEF IN POST OFFICE.

DARING SYDNEY ROBBERY, registered :■ mail RIFLED. 200 V PACKAGES MISSING. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. ' (Received 9.5 p.m.) • A. and N.Z. ' SYDNEY, April 30. During Saturday night 14 bags of registered letters and parcels were rifled in the parcels post office, in Central Square.. The thief apparently was aware that there was no all-night staff employed on Saturday and . secreted himself in the building prior to clpsing. . . The bags were ripped open and a number of letters opened. Those containing cheques were thrown aside, but it is believed that 200 others, .besides. a large number of registered parcels, are missing. The mail was awaiting despatch to interState and foreign destinations. This follows a similar occurrence in February, when 25 Bags were rifled. The previous mail robbery in- Sydney was also carried out in the parcels office, Central Square, on a Saturday night. Saturday night is the. only night in the week that the postal staff is not on duty at the railway. Most of the mail trains leave on Friday night, and after the mail is sorted, put in bags, and sealed on Saturdav morning, the staff leaves, and the mail is stacked on the first floor to await the operations of , the , employees on Sunday morn inc. It is thought that the thieves: last . February first got over the ramp at the side ; of - the : building.. Then they . climbed • the .• external iron frame of the elevator for a distance of 40ft., and broke a solid trlass window near the catch. The registered'■ mail was inside ordinary mail bags containing unregistered letters. It was enclosed in a. separate bag and sealed, and after oneifing the largo mail baa's the thieves evidently burst open the smaller bass and commenced, to deal J with the registered letters. The letters were opened, and those that, were of no value were littered all over the floor. Some, too, that were of ./value mp-t the same fate, which shows that .tbo thieves must have worked hurriedly and had no time to discriminate between, good and bad. ' Another theory put forward by the postal authorities is that the thieves were looking for money—bank drafts—and so on,, and were rot. so concerned about le.weHerv 'or - articles that were traceable. There were watches strewn about, the floorvaluable ones, too. Other pieces of jewellery;, were mixed tip in the con- ■ glomeration •. of mutilated letters, •so this would bear out the contention that , the thieves extjected to get a large haul of bank notes. ' ~ , Altogether 'about .25 : mail bags were openedj and' from them were taken the smaller registered bags.