KING OF SMUGGLERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 25

KING OF SMUGGLERS

TRAPPED BY CUSTOMS INGENIOUS TOBACCO PLOT Britain’s master smuggler—a man who glories in hia daring attempts to cheat the revenue —has had his latest scheme schotched by the patient work of the Customs men. He and his confederate were lately faced with prospect of paying fines totalling £74,709 or going to gaol for six months. , « , A secret tobacco factory in the East End of London, a tug, and silent trips in the darkness to a lonely part or tne South Coast—there were all parts of the ingenious plot, which had as its aim the flooding of the market with millions of cut-price cigarettes. This latest smuggling exploit of _ a young Jew was described to the magistrates at Portsmouth when he appeared in the dock before them on charges relating to the fraudulent evasion of Customs duties on 44631 b of unmanufactured tobacco. The man, George Franklin, aged 30, alias Louis Lesser, cigarette maker, of Woolwich, and his confederate, Alexander M'Menamie, aged 34, ship s mate, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to all the charges. Lesser was fined £3/,ou» and M'Menamie £36,901. The alternative was six months’ imprisonment. Both men went to prison. Fines of this magnitude do not seem to deter Lesser, for‘since 1930 penalties totalling more than £20,000 had been imposed on him for similar offences. , , , , , ~ The idea behind Lesser’s latest gamble with the law was to put millions of cutprice cigarettes on the market, and the scheme was going well. More than 2,000,000 cigarettes —price SJd for 10— had already been sold, and the factory was ready to produce millions more. Last Match Lesser set up a legitimate and prosperous business at Bloomsbury as a licensed' tobacco manufacturer, supplying the cut-price shops with cigarettes. The authorities kept a very watchful eye on men of his reputation, but they could discover nothing illegal about the Bloomsbury business. SECRET TOBACCO FACTORY.

Then came rumours of a secret tobacco factory and a widespread smuggling organisation. The law was put in motion. Investigations were made in London, along the South Coast, and on the Continent. It was discovered that a 60-year-old tug named the Treffry was involved, and that the vessel had left Antwerp with two tons of tobacco purchased by Leser. The Treffry, it was found, had been bought for £3OO by Lesser’s partner. Then the whole story came out. At the end of January the Treffry, with M'Menamie as master, was coaled at Portsmouth, and arrangements were made by Lesser and his partner for the purchase in bond of £4OOO worth of tobacco. This was exported out of bond to Antwerp, and they paid £340 for it. The bales were reshipped from Antwerp on February 5, Lesser paying the charges for their release. When they left Antwerp the pilot’s declaration stated that the Treffry was going to Hamburg. When the pilot was got rid of, however, the course was changed for Ryde. UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. Under cover of night the tug entered Portsmouth Harbour, and at high tide the bales were unloaded in Portchester Creek. M'Menamie, it was alleged was armed with a revolver at the-time. The bales were taken- by motor lorry to a garage at Woolwich, rented by Leser s partner. Unaware that the net was closing on him, Lesser went to Antwerp again and arranged for two more loads of tobacco to be run to England. On Sunday, June 3, Lesser loaded the Treffry at Antwerp with tobacco, saying it was going to Hamburg. Instead, the tug crept down the French coast, waiting for nightfall to dash across the Channel. The Customs authorities were aware of this, and would have made a capture but for the fact that the tug was wrecked off Dunkirk and the crew had to swim ashore.

Lesser travelled to England by the cross-channel service, and a day or two later was arrested. While he was in custody his secret cigarette factory at Woowich was brought to light. Officers burst open its heavily-padlocked doors and discovered a tobacco-cutting machine, tobacco, and even some of the hessian that had covered the smuggled bales. When Lesser and M'Menamie appeared in court at Portsmouth they knew the case against them was unassailable, and they pleaded guilty. Lesser, who treats smuggling as a game that adds zest to life, first came before tlie law in 1930, when was fined £5740 and sent to prison for 12 months. The scheme then was to smuggle tobacco in bales of waste paper. The vigilance of a Customs officer revealed the fraud. Two years later, free again, Lesser hired The Cat, a converted submarine chaser, arranged for lorries to be at a lonely spot off the coast, ■ and filled the vessel up with tobacco. On the way over the steersman fell asleep, and The Cat ran ashore on the Isle of Wight. Undeterred by this mishap, Lesser bluffed a Customs Officer and a coastguard that there was no tobacco in the boat. Next day' he carried 23971 b of smuggled tobacco in the Isle of Wight—Portsmouth ferry. Lesser’s companions were caught, but he escaped, and was on the run for six months before he was traced to Antwerp. He went to London, was arrested, and fined £15,000. He could not pay, and went to prison for six months. Lesser was described by Mr R. L. Fisk, the Customs’ solicitor, as “ a most notorious tobacco smuggler and the ringleader and organiser of a gang of smugglers.”