The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-04-02
OPIUM SMUGGLERS
ARE RUN TO EARTH
Arrest Of Japanese Fisherman and
Seizure Of Sampan First Step TO
Smash Ring, Customs Men Say

Two years after it was decsively es.
tablished opium in large quantities was
being brought into Hawaii in sampans,
after being cast adrift in buoyed pack
ages from transpacifc steamers near
the Islands, and after the following Of
descriptive clue for week or ten
days, three members Of the customs
STAFF yesterday morning made the first
arrest and the first seizure Of n fishing
sampaD as the initial step in series
Of arrests and seizures which il is con
idently predicted will eliminate even
tually the Illicit importations Of the
drug in big shipments.
Just as confidently the customs in
spectors and deputies detailed on the
descriptive clue say that the arrest
yesterday is going to lead to the dis
Soverv Of cached opium valued Mt from
$3.50 to $4,000, which was taken
from the sea, landed and hidden nv
those implicated in the latest big i'm
portation to Hawaii from Japan, from
where most of the drug Is placed aboard
steamers bound for Honolulu and other
American ports.
3. Obata, a Japanese fisherman, and
captain of the eight or ten snmpans
named the Tenjin Maru, but with dis
tinctive marks for each 20 named, war
he one. arrested, questioned and booked
FOR investigation by the Gust oms men
and other federal authorities yesterday
morning,
With him when he was arrested were
taken into custody six Okinawa sailors
who were employed on Obata 3 sampan,
but they were all released after they
md their captain were questioned a.
he district attorneys office.
sampan Il Seized
Immediately following Obata's mr.
rest, his sampan, which has been under
customs surveillance since arriving
here three days ago after ten days
absence, was seized and placed under
federal control.
y Obata Is reported to have protested
his innocence of opium smuggling, but
he customs staff are said to have in.
formation which duplicates him and
others in an attempt to import ard dis
rose of one of the largest quantities
sver. shipped direct to Hawaii since an
uexation.
This same source of information will
also lead them to where from 100 to
200 tins Of the poppy dope are hidden
| = Is asserted. The discovery and the
leizure of this large quantity of opium
ian, be, momentarily expected, it is
also said!
Suspicion, almost certainty, is ex,
pressed that the same hui Of Illicit i'm
porters are involved in this small for
tune venture as the one which failed
by a small freak successfully to get
INTO the Islands nearly $4,000 worth
Of the highly valued Chicken" opium
which was discovered by Hawaiians on
he Cav & Robinson ranch on the Island
Of Niihau early in February.
The opium, Of which there was sew
'nty three tins, with the trademark of
he makers at Macao, the Portuguese
'onression. about twenty miles from
ElOngkong, China, printed on the labels
fitted ashore in two cork buoyed
boxes on the west side of Niihau Isl.
md after it had been thrown Overboa ri
rom a steamer coming to Honolulu
from Japan.
Only the fact that the cork buovs
Within thO IVA hiu uOJ hhNV
buoyancy to keep the box aflOat above
he water is believed to have prevented
from being picked up by a sampnu
| which was seen to cruise up and down
fl the Niihau coast for three or four
lays after the passing of steamer
with the sampan crew evidently en-
gagged in searching for some object.
Opium Brought to City
The Hawaiians who found the opium
'otified the ranch foreman on the
other side of Niihau, who later notified
lis employers, Gay T. Robinson. From
he Niihau ranch owners word was sent
o Honolulu of the discovery of the two
boxes and United States Marshal J. j
Smiddy went TO Niihau and brought it
Honolulu.
Subsequent to the discovery of this
'arRe amount of opium and evidence of
Tow it was planned to get it into the
Islands at a marketable point, a detail
Of the customs staff has been devotinp
much of it's time to attempting to cap
ture the importers who were shown to
he working with such a large capital
at their command, which Indicated a
well organized band Of smugglers.
Ten days ago information reached
the inspectors that another large ship
ment was bound for Honolulu and the
net to catch the smugglers was tight,
ened. Just how the first step was ct
fected would "sound like the movies, .
If described, said one of the customs
staff yesterday.
Without giving out the details OF
how this was learned, it is said the nav
ligators of the sampan sent out for
the second big shipment of opium had
| intended to land at certain isolated
and infrequently visited Island bay
where. a trap was set to catch the SNUG
Cling band with the goods" with a
squad of armed inspectors and deputies
Sampan Is Warned
In some mysterious manner, the sam
pan, although still at sea after pick
ing up the opium, was notified, perhaps
& by light signals at night, of the tray
land il fuiled to enter the bay as ex
pected
Undsmayed by this failure, the Gus
/ toms men detailed on the work deter
mined to ascertain the uame and NUM-
fher of anv sampan which failed to re
i turn to Honolulu at the end of the
usual period, in the meantime getting