FIGHT WITH SMUGGLERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13748, 10 September 1908, Page 8

FIGHT WITH SMUGGLERS.

LARGE CAPTURE OF TOBACCO ON

THE ITALIAN FRONTIER.

MILAN, July 12.

A sharp encounter has taken place at the foot of the Alps, in the neighbourhood of Lake Varese, between * small party of Customs officers and a band of seventy smugglers, mostly Italians, who for a long time have been engaged in importing imnlense quantities of contraband tobacco from Switzerland.

The Italian authorities at last got on the scent through espying a number of peasants early yesterday morning hewing a path through the brusliwqod in the secluded glen on the mountain side in readiness for the expedition that was to follow after nightfall. When the smugglers were well upon the Italian territory, the Customs guards fired their revolvers in the air. The smugglers fought with determination till the firing of guns in the adjacent woods led them to believe that they were outnumbered. They dispersed in every direction, leaving but two of their comrades, who were badly hurt, in the clutches of the law. Many dogs laden with parcels of cigarettes were caught in wire meshes prepared for them. At dawn sixty kilograms of cigarettes and over a ton of fine tobacco stuffed into sacks were collected in the vicinity of the conflict. The haul represented duty amounting to £4800, or double than sum in fines. 'While the captured smugglers were being conveyed along the valley to Varese, thirty of their companions appeared on the crest of the hills to try to rescue them, but noticing the formidable military escort they prudently retired. The captives say that the smuggling is controlled by a rich trust, and that hundreds of sacks of contraband are lying ready for transport just -over the frontier. For the risky job of transport Italians are regularly employed at 32s per night's march.