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Enclosure 1
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THE
HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2018,
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
"DANGEROUS TRAFFIC."
Guilty Knowledge." The fact that the defendant had not produced & key when asked to by Senior Revenue Officer Watt who boarded the Angers who also referred to by the Attorney-General as indicating guilty knowledge. A further factor was the non-production by the defendant of the baggage room pass without which the defendant would not have been able to SEQUEL TO SEIZURE ON FRENCH knowledge of the contents, it was difficult get his trunks. If the defendant had no to understand why he should have taken such pains to disassociate himself from the trunks.
JAPANESE SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS.
VESSEL.
Yonejiro Tanaka, the Japanese who was arrested on the French mail steamer Angers on September 1st, in consequence of a seizure of nearly a quarter of a ton of heroin on board, was charged before Sir Henry Gollan, the Chief Justice, at the Criminal Sessions yesterday, with importing the drug and with unlawful possession. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years' hard labour.
The Hon. Mr. J. H. Kemp, the Attorney-General, prosecuted, and Mr. H. G. Sheldon (instructed by Mr. L. R. Andrews) defended.
In the course of the trial, the Attorney- General said that the total value of the haul was $100,000 and the amount was sufficient to kill 2 million people.
Opening the case for the Crown, Mr. Kemp explained that there were two alternative charges against the prisoner, one of unlawful possession and the other of unlawful possession importation,
Dangerous Drug Trade,
The dangerous drug trade, further stated the Attorney-General, had been the subject of various international con- ventions and was the subject of certain international laws. The policy of these conventions included the control of drugs in transit, ie., that of drugs which it might not be intended to land at a place but which passed through it.
Applying the law to Hongkong, the Attorney-General said that no-one allowed to carry through drugs unless they had a licence, unless they were on the ship's manifest or unless they had given certain information to the autho rities. None of these regulations had been complied with by the defendant.
was
Dealing with the statement that the defendant had made as to his having been given the trunks by a Chinese merchant at Marseilles to deliver to Shanghai and that he had been assured that the con- Lents were watches. The Attorney- General said that it was unlikely that such a valuable cargo would have been entrusted to a man who had no know- ledge as to its contents and who would have had to answer question at the port fof destination.
iti
The manager of the Messageries Mari- time Compaignie gave formal evidence of the fact that baggage room tickets were issued and that trunks would not be released without the production of such tickets.
After further evidence had been given before putting his client in the witness. box Mr. Sheldon said that there had been no evidence in fact that the drug was in accused's possession. The only evi- dence against him was the statements which he had made.
Accused's Story.
The accused said that he was a tailor carrying on business at Tokyo, and bad this year taken a trip to Paris to get some new models of European clothes. His business in Japan was large and be made by it a profit from 500 to 600 yen a month. Whilst in Paris he met a Japanese friend who introduced him to a Chinese. They went together on a trip by aeroplane to Switzerland and whilst there, the Chinese told him that he had some boxes which he desired to ship to Shanghai. He asked him if he would take them, and he
The complied. Chinese told him the name of the person! to whom they were to be delivered in Shanghai. He, moreover, told witness that the boxes contained watches.
Replying to the Attorney-General, witness said that it was his first trip to: Europe. He further stated that he had posted to Japan the models he had bought in Paris.
A Justified Verdict.
After Counsel had addressed the jury, i the latter retired for about ten minutes, and returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on both counts.
Addressing the prisoner, the Chief Justice said: "You have been found guilty of a very serious offence, and on evidence on which I think fully justifies the jury in finding you guilty. This traffic in drugs is one of great danger to people who are addicted to the habit, and to others who might be tempted to become addicted to it. The traffic is carried on by a very dangerous body of criminals in order to make profits, and who don't care what evil they bring upon others. It is true that there was no in- tention on your part to dispose of their drugs in Hongkong but the object of the law is to try to stop the traffic not , only in Hongkong but everywhere else. The sentence of the Court is that you be imprisoned for five years with hard labour."
The trial did not conclude until 6 p.m.
1926
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