BIG HAUL OF OPIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1924, Page 4

BIG HAUL OF OPIUM.

£lOOO WORTH SEIZED. FIFTY-TWO TINS (FROM STEAMER. A CHINAMAN ARRESTED. A big haul of opium, estimated to be worth £lOOO, was made by Custom’s officers on duty at the Queen’s Wharf, Wellington, on Monday evening, ana a Chinese member of the crew of the steamer ■Sussex was arrested hy them on a charge of attempting to smuggle opium into the country. It appears that early in the evening a Customs officer on duty on the Queen’s Wharf observed a man wearing an overcoat come ashore from the Sussex, which is berthed at the outer tee. Something about the man caused the official to ask him whether he had any dutiable goods on his person. The man, who proved to be a Chinese member of the Sussex’s crew, i« alleged t-> have replied “Nothing.” Not ’satisfied with the answer, the official searched the Chinaman and found four tins of opium on him. It then occurred to the Customs officer that the Chinaman might have more of • the drug among his belongings aboard the Sussex. A search was made of the mauls calbin, and 48 more tins of opium were discovered. The Chinaman was then taken into custody. The opium seized, amounting to 52 tins, is valued at £lOOO. This is believed to be one of the largest hauls ever made in Ne’w Zealand. Importation of the drug in the -form in which ix was found is strictly 'prohibited. It is believed that the opium was smuggled aboard at one of the Eastern ports, and that the owner .proposed to diepose of some of it at each of the New Zealand ports to be visited. The probability is that some of it was taken ashore at Auckland. The alertness of the Customs officials at Wellington is proverbial, and several hauls o* opium from shipping have been made at this port in the past.