CARGO BROACHING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 14 January 1913, Page 8

CARGO BROACHING.

SNARING A SKILLED GANG

DETECTIVES’ LONELY VIGIL

For years past cargo broaching round about the Port Jackson wharves (says the Sydney Sun) has been ram pant evil, and many city firms .have been losers to the extent of thousand; of pounds. Huge consignments o' wharehousemen’s goods have disap peared in a most mysterious fashion and the Criminal Investigation .Department has been baffled, inasmuch as the detectives have been unable tr locate the slightest flaw in the skilled work of the pillagers. Superintendent Roche, a few day; ago, asked for an increase in his detective staff, and when he obtained hiadditional men he centred his atten tion on the cargo broachers. Tin force declared its intention of getting at the root of the evil. As a resub Detectives Malone and Duncan mad' three clever arrests late on Saturday night. Detectives’ Ruse. The two officers, following up a reported case, happened on a clue, and yesterday afternoon disguised and armed themselves. They made their way to a Woolloomooloo wharf and hung about there, exciting little or no attention. As nightfall came or they secreted themselves behind a stack of cargo. For hours they stayed there and waited and watched patiently like the experienced men they are. It was well into the night before anything occurred to justify their lonely vigil. Silently a man came to

the fence surrounding the wharf, and as the detectives peered cautiously through the darkness he leapt the barrier without making the slightest

sound. 'Then the stillness was disturbed by three sharp whistles. The last note had hardly escaped the man’s lips when two other men showed up at the fence. One of the two left his two companions standing and waiting. A. minute or two later the watchers behind the cargo heard the rumbling of cart wheels, and a vehicle was backed against the fence. Malone and Duncan looked again, and the men they had waited so long for were seated on the top of a load of cargo in the cart, as they watched the horse starting on its way. Arrests after Fierce Struggle.

The detectives had bided their time well. They leapt the fence in one bound, and in another Malone had jumped over the tail-hoard, and Duncan had the horse’s head. The animal was quickly quietened, and the investigators were soon grappling with their ‘wanteds.” There was a hard,

sharp struggle, but strength prevailed, and the men, who were subsequently charged with cargo broaching, were placed under arrest. Together with the cart and goods they were taken to the Cathedral-street station and charged. The authorities expect that these arrests will bo the means of quelling cargo pillaging for some time—at least as far as Sydney is concerned.