Threw Contraband Into Launch

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31093, 23 June 1966, Page 15

Threw Contraband Into Launch

(Neto Zealand Presz Association! AUCKLAND, June 22. Two men who smuggled a suitcase into Auckland from the freighter Wainui berthed in the stream late on Friday night were convicted by Mr F. McCarthy, S.M., and fined £75 each.

Hugh Harold Campbell Chambers, aged 38, an assistant steward, and Geoffrey William Rogers, aged 29, a boat-builder, admitted a charge of smuggling. Mr J. Mlles, for the Collector of Customs, said Chambers had been seen about midnight by two officers in the ship to walk to the stem carrying a suitcase. At the same time they saw a highpowered launch cruising near the ship’s stem. The captain was called. Chambers was then seen walking back without the suitcase. The launch made off at high speed. Chambers denied all knowledge of the suitcase, he said, so the police were informed.

When Chambers’s cabin was searched, Rogers’s address was found. At Rogers’s house the police found a letter from Singapore which suggested the whole business had been organised carefully. Rogers arrived home about 6 a.m. without the suitcase. For Rogers, Mr P. G. Hillyer said his client had no knowledge of what was in the suitcase. The Magistrate: What was in the suitcase? It makes a great difference to the penalty. Mr B. K. Shenkin, for Chambers, said he had been assured by his client that watches frdhi Singapore had been in the case. There was no question of drugs. The suitcase had yet to be found.