OPIUM SMUGGLERS
ANOTHER FINE: OF £IOO. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. That the efforts of the Customs Department to suppress-the smuggling of opium into New Zealand are meetii g with some success, was evidenced in the Magistrate’s Court to-day, when Natha. Vittal; an' Indian fruit hawker, pleaded guilty to bringing four and ahalf pounds of opium into the country. Mr MacLaurin, Collector of Customs, said that Vittal was one of a number of Indians who returned to New Zealand by ;tbe Marama on July 20. His luggage was taken to, an address in Tory Street, but no arrangements had been made for his lodging there, and his luggage was dumped out in the backyard. Apparently the opium was taken out of one of his cases and hidden in a stable in Sturdee Street, where it was later found by a Customs officer. “It is solid, opium, worth anything up to £3OO in New Zealand,” said Mr MacLaurin, *‘and I ask for a substantial'fine. Even if only one or two of these parcels get through, '■the profit on them is sufficient to pay for the fines of those men who may be caught..” Mr IPage, S. M., imposed a fine of £IOO. -
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Bibliographic details
Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1786, 24 July 1926, Page 5
Word Count
202OPIUM SMUGGLERS Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1786, 24 July 1926, Page 5
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