THE DRUG PERIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1924, Page 6

THE DRUG PERIL.

TRAFFIC IN COCAINE. SMUGGLED TO AUSTRALIA. WORLD-WIDE TRADE. By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Received Jan. 31, 11.5 p.m. Sydney, Jan. 31. The police and Customs officers are making an effort to capture cocaine smugglers, who are landing large quantities of the drug in the Commonwealth. The trade has considerably increased since the tightening of the American laws, dealers having chosen the Australian market as one of the new avenues of illicit trade, which has now apparently grown beyond all bounds. There is hardly any doubt that a combination of dealers, with hundreds of thousands of pounds at their back, has been doing an immense business in the drug, sending it from the Continent to ports in various parts of the world, and it has been suggested that the trade is directed at bringing about as much as possible in countries outside Germany a condition detrimental to the physical state of the people. Customs officials stated that Sydney, which is receiving most of the drug entering Australia, is full of cocaine, and sellers are unable to obtain a market for it at the old prices. Inquiries resulted in the police obtaining information that smuggling is carried on by women and men sent from overseas.