SMUGGLERS AT WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22133, 11 December 1933, Page 11

SMUGGLERS AT WORK

USE OF ISLE OF WIGHT TOBACCO, SILK AND LACE. The Isle of Wight has once again oicome Britain’s chief inlet for contraband goods. Not for over a century has this island seen so much smuggling. Tobacco, brandy, silk and lace of considerable value are being smuggled. Powerful motor launches are used to bring the goods from the Continent. They are unloaded on the island an! transported to the mainland in small quantities in other boats. Once on the mainland a large car or lorry collects the goods and takes them to London, where they are hidden in some garage. A highly organised gang controls the whole business.

A correspondent of the Sunday Express says:—“ I have watched these 1933 smugglers at work. A longshoreman tol l me where the ‘ gentlemen ’ might be expected. He accompanied me. We drove to a most desolate spot. A place of cliffs, thickets, rocky coves —entirely desolate. The time was about midnight. We took a dinghy, rowed out to one of the coves, hid the boat, and concealed ourselves in the undergrowth. “We waited for two hours, not daring even to smoke. Then, out to sea, I heard the chugging of powerful engines. Through glasses I could see a large cabin launch nosing into shore. She carried no lights. “The launch came right in. The mist almost hid her. The engines stopped. Two or three splashes broke the silence. A blue flare shone for a second. The engines started. The boat put out to sea. Then, soundlessly, two men appeared on the shore. They waded into the water, carried out several small cases, and took them into the wools. After three journeys they disappeared. We waited some time and left.”