RUMANIA BLAMED

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 84, 5 October 1940, Page 11

RUMANIA BLAMED

ARREST OF BRITONS

UNCIVILISED ACT

GERMAN ORIGIN

(Official Wireless and D.JP.A.)

(Received October 5, 1 p.m.)'

LONDON. October 4.

Confirmation has reached London of the kidnapping in Bucharest of a seventh British subject, Mr. Percy Clark. No further developments have occurred in regard to the other detained men, and no report has been received from the Consul regarding the condition of the five men who are in the hands of the police, and who, when last seen, bore signs of maltreatment. While it is recognised that the brutal hooliganism of which Miller and Clark are the latest victims owes its origin to German elements, indignation here is acute, and it is felt that the Rumanian Government can« not escape responsibility for this uncivilised conduct. .

The British Legation in Bucharest announced that Mr, P. Clark, who' is president of an engineering . firm at Ploesti, was kidnapped by three men. who tricked him into leaving his hotel in Athenee Place, in the centre of Bucharest.

The Rumanian authorities declare that they are unable to act, and the Iron Guard denies knowledge of the kidnapping.*

The Legation's repeated demands for the trial or release of the five Britons arrested a v/eek ago remain unanswered. ' - - -.

The Berlin radio says the Rumanian Foreign Minister, M. Sturdza, has rejected the British Minister's protest against the arrests and. accused him of being involved in sabotage plans in which those arrested were implicated. M. Sturdza asked the Minister to resign. . . ' *" •.

"The Times" correspondent .in Bucharest says thugs, on the frontiers are bullying departing Britons. The strongest possible pressure from Britain is necessary' to meet the situation, which is still deteriorating.

The Bucharest police have advised the British Legation that Mr. Miller has been located. He is. detained at local police headquarters. Officials of the British Legation, after seeing Mr. Miller, stated that' Mr. Miller had been subjected to the third degree and beaten during the 48 hours during which he was held by his kidnappers. It is officially stated in Bucharest that the arrested Britons will be tried by the courts.

Professor Esk, a French journalist, is reported to have been arrested for complicity in a British sabotage plot.

A message from Bucharest states that the disappearance of Mr. Miller is considered to be possibly connected with, unexploited oil deposits, of which he has the secret details. The British Legation denied German radio versions of M. Sturdza's communication.