AN OPIUM HAUL.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 9 February 1920, Page 4

AN OPIUM HAUL.

CHINEE NOT WILY ENOUGH,

Someone made a glaring mistake in a Chinese store in Sydney Ike other day, and as as result the Custom searchers secured £BOO worth of opium. In a suburb a Chinese grocer received several bags of sugar from a Chinese store in the city. One of these bags was sold to a favoured customer by the grocer. On opening it, however, the customer found that the bag did not contain sugar. Some of.the space was taken up by queer -looking sausage-like affairs. As the customer had ordered sugar he considered himself badly done by, so he had the offending bag sent back and lodged a complaint with the groeci 1 . The grocer, on his part, decided he had received short weight and gave information to the police. The Customs searchers were communicated with and an investigation of the supposed sausages showed that the sausage skins were but envelopes of opium. There were 101 bof it altogether. As the drug is now well worth over £4O a pound, some one was a heavy loser. The Customs activities did not finish at this stage. The searchers went to the Chinese store from which the “sugar” had been sent, and there made a systematic search. Their efforts were rewarded with another 101 b of opium, this time done up in half-pound tins. The Customs searchers are continuing their investigations.