SMUGGLERS’ PROFITS

Evening Star, Issue 19791, 15 February 1928, Page 9

SMUGGLERS’ PROFITS

EXTENSIVE OPERATIONS IN ENGLAND , “Smuggling is done extensively Irora Holland to-day, chiefly by motor yachtsmen, and in many a summer week-end more than £2OO is made easily.” Tho speaker was a Dutchman, with whom 1 walked along the promenade on the edge of the sands of Schevenmgen (Holland) (writes a special correspondent of the ‘ Sunday Express ’). I had learned, from inquiries made, that cargoes of goods to be smuggled across were known to be despatched from here and from other small Dutch seaports. “ There are at least a dozen and possibly twenty English motor cruisers engaged in it every fine week-end,” lie continued. “ The actual smugglers are young men who not only do it for the easy money they can make, but also fo- the sport. You will find on Friday and Saturday evenings many motor cars arriving from London at West Mersea, Heybridgo Basin, Maldon, Wivenhoe, and Bnghtlingsca. Tho owners of these motor cars are motor yachtsmen, and usually spend their week-ends fishing. They bring their gear, baskets of food, whisky, rugs, and other things for their week-ends afloat. No one takes any notice of them. Their motor cruisers are waiting for them, and oft they go. ‘‘They go out to sea and fish till Sunday’, when they make for a pre-ar-vanged spot in mid-ocean. These motor cruiser owners aro all sailors. Most of them learned navigation during the war, and off the east const, too, so that, unerringly, they can make for a given mark. They reach that mark, and simultaneously another motor cruiser arrives from Holland. Packages of silk stockings and cases of cigars are handed from the Dutch to the English boat. “Sunday evening comes, and the motor cruisers return to their hards along the Essex coast. They come ashore with their packages and rugs, most of their fine catch, and exhibit a basket of fish, pack their things away in their waiting motor cars, and set ofi for London.

“A pair of silk stockings,” he added, “may he bought'•for 10s in Holland, while in London the same pair will be sold for 255, thanks to the heavy duty. Five hundred pairs of silk stockings do not make four bulky parcels, and many boxes of cigars can be hidden in a big fish basket. That is the way smuggling is chiefly carried on to-day. “ I know of three or four men,” he added, “who clubbed together and rented a loft in Rye. That loft when 1 last saw it was half full of boxes of brandy, bails of silk, and boxes of cigars—all hidden under sails and nets. It was removed at night in a touring car bit by bit, but some of it was sold on the spot to local purchasers who came up and took their pick. “ Fairlight Glen is another favorite spot for landing cargoes, but Newhaven and Shorebam are both too hot to be safe. Deal has been used from time to time, but Rye is the headquarters. 1 believe there are at least a score of families iu Rye who live safely and comfortably by smuggling, ft is the local joke. “ Poole Harbor has been the scene

of other smuggling exploits. Other cargoes have been landed on Romney Marsh, at Bracklesham Bay, near Chichester, and near Itchenor, on Chichester Harbor. The Isle of Sheppey and the lonely marsh farms up the East Swale, on the North Kent coast, and tho district round Harty Ferry have also been ‘ used,’ while a regular store was kept for two months on an Essex island until the local man became frightened. Hamford Water, which is farther north, is full of islands, and near Harwich is another good place, because it is lonely and unfrequented, while the River Aide, in Suffolk, is, I believe, as much a haunt of smugglers now as even it was in tho old days.”