MAIL BAGS STOLEN

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1933, Page 9

MAIL BAGS STOLEN

TAKEN FROM A TRAIN.

THIEVES’ SPEEDY ESCAPE.

Mail bag thieves effected an audacious robbery early on a recent morning, and got away with a considerable sum of money which was being forwarded from Sydney to Newbridge, altout 18 miles from Bathurst, for the payment of pensions at Newbridge and Trunkey. The mail train arrived at Newbridge about 4 a.m., but it was not until late afternoon that the robbery was discovered. The bags were missed at Newbridge-, but it was thought they had not been sent on from Sydney. An extensive search was made back along the railway line about half a mile in the direction of Bathurst. Two bags were found. Both had been ripped open and the contents scattered on the side of the track.

The pension money was missing, but, so far as could be ascertained, the letters in each bag had not been interfered with. Evidently the thieves were content to get away quickly with the cash rather than delay their escape by looking through the letters for valuables. The bags, it is believed, contained between £7O and £BO.

The manner in which the robbery was effected indicated careful planning, and was apparently the work of some persons with a close knowledge of the methods employed by the Postal and Railway Departments in the handling of valuable mails. How thieves got possession of the bags is a mystery. The train stops at Newbridge for only a few minutes, and only two or three officials are on duty at that hour.