Evening star., 1934-08-05
NE-two-three--fo

and so on to the last BARREL
When Customs Ofhcer Nc
Grady finished his count of
the so barrels Of oil he pursed up his lips and,
turning to dock workman nearby ordered
him to leave the shipment alone for awhile.
A half-hour later McGrady came back. This
time he had with him an assistant with ham
mer and chisel They walked along the pier
again, giving they walked a series OF kicks
to barrels -four" "six" "ten," "fifteen,"
twenty four" twenty y-seven," !" "thrty-two" and
"forty-one." knowingly they looked at each
other. Then came the sharp command from
McGrady, "Open two"
The chsel bit into the top of the steel drum
and worked itself heavily around the top In
q few minutes the carved out lid was lifted
aloft and
Inside the barrel was another barrel, steel
drum exactly the shape of the outer, but
smaller in diameter by exactly 8 inches all
the way around. Its top was something like
inches lower than the top of the outer barrel
But what made McGrady's eyes bulge was
not the sight of the inner barrel, but what lay
between it and the outer barrel-in that 3-inch
circumference between them The tips Of
tiny bags neatly tied.
McGrady grabbed two of these tips in his
hands and lifted. And then he pulled and
hauled When he was through pulling and
hauling he had in his hand a long canvas bag
the length of the barrel and about 4 inches
In width In the bag was fortune in opiuml
THE latest trick of the narcotic smuggler.
! The inner barrel, set lower than the outer
and well within it. permitted hidden cache
completely unsuspected- d-competely except for
the toe of Customs Inspector McGrady.
When all checked up and overhauled. there
were eight Of these barrels out Of the ship
ment of so. And they yielded:
Nine hundred and forty cans of smoking
opium, containing 6.18625 ounces.
Seventy bottles-7o ounces-cocaine
Forty-hve packages-90 ounces morphine.
Three packages heroin-six ounces.
The value of this shipment amounted to
something like $4,000 at commercial rates.
At resale Smuggled rates 1t represented for
tune of something like a half-million dollars.
Smuggling" says Frank Dow, assistant
Federal commissioner of customs has gone
modern like everything else. Time when
1t used to be a horse-conducted affair. In
those days contraband was brought in across
the Mexican border by horse. Mexican snug
elers operating from the interior carried the
contraband to the border where it was picked
up by the American accomplices and brought
on into the various States and the larger cities
Along the coast contraband came in via
the sailboat Innocent little craft that toyed
with wind and wave, yet all the while had
hidden with its sleek, trim sides illegal entries.
Now contraband comes into the country by all
the swift means of transportation developed
by twentieth century genius. If the runner
has SUFFICIENT means to afford them. And he
usually has, for the modern smuggler usually
is Just one member of giant smuggling ring,
3 ring with international ramihcations operat-
ing through local agents. carriers and fences.
Headquarters Of these organizations usually
located abroad and their masters usually guar
antee to deliver any contTaband article pur-
chased by their customers
Take diamonds for instance. Here regu-
aar system of smuggling is employed, the opera
tor abroad guaranteeing delivery. Customs off,
GERS ind it very hard to identify diamond car
riers- Once diamonds are in the country they
are hard to identify. However, they are not
the problem they once were This is because
of the tariff act of 1880. Under the old tariff
act, that of 1922. 20 per cent duty was levied
on diamonds, Now the duty is 10 per cent.
This reduction in tariff has made their snug
Cling into the States more or less Improbable" !"
ONE Of the cleverest smuggling tricks yet
~ encountered by Federal agents came to
light recently, when a Federal patrol boat
picked up a tiny American flag floating in Puget
Sound Attached to the flag, and hidden under
the water as it hoated was q tin of opium
How did it get there?
liner coming into Seattle had aboard an
bpium smuggler. In his possession were numer-
Gus small burlsp bags containing salt Buried
IN the salt tins of opium. As the liner
neared the porE the opium Smuggler pushed
these bags of salt through q portfolio They
dropped into the water and sank. Later the
salt melted and the tins of opium hoated to
the top. The tiny flag attached to the tin
marked it's location TO 8 confederate who was
IN rick frnrxn