ARREST OF ALIENS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24328, 19 June 1940, Page 5

ARREST OF ALIENS

REHEARSED BY STOP-WATCH '', n ' ' MEASURES IN NETHERLANDS INDIES A COMPREHENSIVE ROUND-UP How complete,- were the measures taken by ; the. Netherlands' ... Indies up ' "ahdVv pro-Nazi Hollanders throughout the Indies immediately the German invasion of Holland was announced is disclosed in an article which appeared in a recent issue of the Straits Budget, which is published in Singapore. Perfect Organisation It would appear that everything was prepared well in advance, for. two nights before the Germans invaded Holland, the police in the Netherlands Indies rehearsed the steps that were to be taken to arrest and intern enemy aliens and subversive agents in the event of an invasion of the home country. The rehearsal was, carried out by police officers with stop-watches, and this enabled the authorities to satisfy themselves that the necessary measures for the maintenance of internal security could be carried out in a very, short time. So perfect was the organisation that, when the time came, almost all of the 25,000 suspects in the Netherlands Indies were under lock and key within two hours. Hundreds of Hollanders, suspected of pro-Nazi sympathies, were also interned, and the internees were able to take practically no luggage with them. Women and children under the age of 16 were not originally arrested, but it soon, transpired that some of the German women might be considered dangerous characters, so it was decided to round up some of them also. They were placed in a large house in the Batavia district, where the authorities could keep a close watch over them, while the men were interned on a small island in the Bay of Batavia and in a village near Bandoeng. Seizure of . Ships The seizure of German merchant 1 ships in the Indies ports was carried out so rapidly that none of them had N even a warning by radio of the Invasion of Holland and the fate in store for them. Within about half an hour 18 ships, of a gross tonnage of 116,000, were seized and put under the Dutch flag, the only vessel to be scuttled by its crew being the Sophie Rlckmers, which was lying at Sahang. In .Tandjong Priok Harbour, near Batavia, some of the ships were taken ‘so efficiently and quickly that the members of the crews were only halfdressed when they were _ ordered ashore by the police. No tube-was given the officers to destroy the ships papers, and in two cases attempts by members of the engine room staffs to scuttle their ’ships were frustrated by the rapidity with ■ which the, arrests were carried out. . Apart from the value of the ships that were seized, the cargo aboard them was also of considerable value. For-some time previously the ships had 'apparently been loading cargo, with the intention of making a dash for Vladivostock, and all this, the value of which was estimated to he in the neighbourhood of £500,000, was confiscated by the Government of the Netherlands Indies.