A THRILLING SMUGGLING EPISODE.

Southland Times, Issue 17014, 12 April 1912, Page 3

A THRILLING SMUGGLING EPISODE.

UOTOS CAB SASHES THBOXTOH STEEL WIRES. REVOLVER DUEL AND ESCAPE. An exciting affray between smugglers and Customs officials has occurred at Tourcolng, near the Belgian frontier. Despite the physical and pecuniary risk involved, a smuggling trade in contraband tobacco is carried on between Belgium and France. The smugglers, who are generally well armed, usually made a dash across the frontier into France in automobiles specially built for the carrying of contraband goods. The vital parts of the motor cars are protected by armour against the revolver bullets of the Customs officials. A party of Customs officers in ambush shape of a revolver fusillade from the suddenly espied a black-painted automobile approaching at full speed from the direction of Belgium. Three officers, the advance guard of the party, leaving their hiding place, stepped on to the roadway and called upon the occupants of the car to stop and submit to the. customary examination.

CHARGING THE BARRIER. The reply to the summons came in the shape of a revolver fusilade from the chaffeur and a man who was sitting’ at his side. Fortunately, the aim of the smugglers was wide, and none of the officers was hit. The main body of the Customs guard in reserve 500 yards further along the road, seeing the hostile reception accorded to their comrades, hastily ran some stout steel wires across the road. These were secured to stakes driven into the ground. The oncoming automobile. which was equipped with a projecting steel ram after the manner of a modenr warship, charged the barrier in fine stylo, broke through it without any difficulty, and continued its course in the direction of Lille.

The Customs officers, finding themselves thus baffled, opened fire with their revolvers, and, as was afterwards ascertained. wounded the man who sat beside the chaffeur. Mounting bicycles, the Customs officers fo'owed in pursuit, but the automobile was soon lost to sight. At the .height of this exciting chase one of the tyres of the fugitive motor car burst with a loud report, but this did not arrest its progress. FUSILLADE AND FLIGHT. Near Lille the chaffeur. with the intention of avoiding the octroi guard at the entrance to the city, turned sharply to his right. The sudden strain was more than the wheel, which had already lost Its tyre, could bear. It snapped in two, and the automobile turned over, and lay helpless by the roadside.

Its two occupants on extricating themselves from beneath the vehicle, found themselves confronted by two octroi employees, who called upon them to surrender. The two smuggler?, however, opened fire to keep their pursuers at a Respectful distance. One of the men had been wounded, in the wrist, presumably by the shots fired earlier by the Customs officers, for his left hand was enveloped in a blood-stained bandage. The men made off across country, and, scaling a cemetery wall, were 'finally lost to the view of their two pursuers. The abandoned automobile was seized by the Customs authorities. It is an 80 h.p. vehicle. In addition to the steel ram in front, the wheels were protected by stout steel guards. It bore no number. In the interior of the vehicle were 150 kiligrammes of cut tobacco, which, from the French Customs point of vfew, is worth £SOO. The motor car and its contents have been confiscated, and the police arc now actively hunting for the two daring individuals who ran the gauntlet of the Customs guard. It is believed that they have succeeded in re-crossing the frontier, and arc now hiding in Belgium.