SWIFT POLICE RAID

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 8

SWIFT POLICE RAID

ALLEGED OPIUM DEN i|j| SURPRISE FOR CHINESE NO WARNING FOR NINETEEN TAKEN INTO CUSTODY | Gaining entrarce to premises at lh6 > *?■ corner of Grey's Avenue and Yelverton sfi Terrace without difficulty, two city tectives yesterday afternoon carried out g one of the swiftest and most orderly raids Iff §1 in police history. Nineteen Chinese were . I arrested on charges conuected with smoking of opium. 8 The building was kept under observa- i tion by Detective P. J. Nalder and 1 McWhirter, who waited a favourable '-'Si moment to gain access to it. When they'll J saw someone answer the door-bell tfosj --1 slipped in behind two Chinese. The detectives mounted a flight oTrf/i stairs and were in an upstairs room before 1 the occupants received any There were eight Chinese in the room, and Detective Nalder had great difficulty ||?,S in convincing them that they wero under j | arrest. Even greater surprise was ex>'J||] pressed by the 11 occupants of an room. I

So quickly was the raid carried out|fp that the lamps used for heating opiumJ|| were still alight. In the inner room De-||§l tective McWhirter stepped' over re-' £1 cumbent forms in order to. blow a lamp|M out-. A considerable quantity of material >|| f was seized by the detectives. Subsequently, the Chinese, were to the central police station, a charge of keeping premises for , the smoking of [i|l opium being preferred against one. The /A' others were charged with being found on the premises. They will appear in .the -ft Police Court this morning. * The premises in which the Chinese werfr ||| found wero raided under two months ago, |w when two police officers cut their 'way || through ceiling boards in order to reach the occupiers. The premises" were then f| found to be heavily barricaded, and though the bars were removed they hsw« been replaced since.