CONTRABAND OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1943, Page 4

CONTRABAND OF WAR

ATTEMPTED SMUGGLING ON SPANISH SHIPS IN VOYAGES FROM SOUTH AMERICA. WARNING GIVEN BY BRITISH. MINISTER. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) RUGBY, November 30. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare, Mr Dingle Foot, informed the House of Commons that last month British contraband control officers discovered attempts to smuggle bontraband on Spanish ships sailing from South America to Spain. These attempts involved goods of small bulk, but of high value, such as industrial diamonds, platinum and liver extract, which was used for the manufacture of special tonics supplied to shock troops, airmen and submarine crews. The number of shins intercepted and brought in for search at a British control base had increased.

Mr Foot added: “If we have reason to believe that a passenger or seaman has been involved in smuggling, or attempting to smuggle, we take steps, through our system of passenger and crew control, to prevent him crossing the Atlantic again. It is clear that, as a general rule ,the shipping companies and masters concerned" are ignorant of these attempts to defeat the blockade. I must, however, remind those concerned that if there is evidence of their complicity, both the cargo and the ship could be liable to seizure.”