MAILS RIFLED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20974, 13 March 1930, Page 13

MAILS RIFLED.

NEW ZEALAND’S LOSS. POLICE BAFFLED. (From Ouk Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 27. Australian detectives are baffled over a number of serious mail robberies that have been reported of late. It is evident, they say, that an international gang is operating on Australian mails, but just where the thefts are committed they are unable to say. One of the most notable cases was reported a week or so ago from New Zealand. A registered mail for the Dominion that passed through Sydney—it arrived here by a P. and O. boat—was rifled, and the loss was estimated at more than £4OOO. The postal authorities in New Zealand complained to Australia, and inquiries showed that the thieves had made their haul by loosening a portion of the seam of a mail bag and extracting what they wanted. The “ job ” was a particularly clean one, and the bags did not indicate that there was any cause for suspicion until they had reached their destination, and were opened. The seam had been carefully restitehed, and the useless part of the mail—that is to say, useless to the thieves—was returned to the bag. By the same method a well-known Sydney firm lost a valuable shipment of silk from France. The authorities, after full inquiries, have come to the conclusion that the thefts take place before the mail reaches Australia, possibly at Marseilles. It has been particularly noticeable that mails carried on boats that call at the French port have suffered most from interference. The possibility of the gang having confederates on board the ships is not being overlooked, and very complete inquiries are in hand. When the P. and O. liner Comorin arrived ah Brisbane the other day it was found that a bag of registered mail addressed to that city had been rifled of its valuable contents. The frequency of these thefts is causing great anxiety among the postal officials.