This document is communicated to Governments for confidential information in view of the fact that it has not yet b: :n considered by the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Dpiu and Other Dangerous Drugs. rCommunicated to the Council and the Members of the League.] C. 57. M. 2 2 . 1938. x i. [0.c.s.300^;.] Geneva, January 1st, 1938. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS SUMMARY OF ILLICIT TRANSACTIONS AND SEIZURES REPORTED TO THE SECRETARIAT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS BETWEEN OCTOBER 1s t AND DECEMBER 31s t , 1937 — 2 — PART I. CASES REPORTED IN PREVIOUS SUMMARIES IN REGARD TO WHICH FURTHER INFORMATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED. No. 443. — Seizure of Morphine at Hamburg, November 1931. Del Gracio Case. Reference : The German Government reports (November 26th, 1937) that Del ^1^3193,XI Gracio, arrested in Paris on October 29th, 1936, was sentenced by the page 2; German Court to two years’ imprisonment, the sentence to start from O.C.S.41 ; May 5th, 1937, and allowance to be made for six months’ detention O.C.S./Conf.2 tiO during trial. He was further sentenced to a fine of 10,000 Reichmarks and 290(a). (12,000 Swiss gold francs) ; in default of the payment of this fine, a 27707/387. further term of imprisonment at the rate of one day for each 100 marks to be inflicted. No. 732. — Seizure of 1 kg. 250 grs. of Raw Opium at Nogales, Arizona, on June 12th, 1937. Reference : ^ The representative of Mexico on the Advisory Committee transmitted fô C S 300(/il937 XI on December 3rd, 1937, the following communication from the Mexican page 9 ; Department of Public Health in connection with this case : O.C.S./Conf. 324(a). “ On August 13th last, a group of Narcotic Drug Police Officials of the Health Department was instructed to make some enquiries on the northern frontier of Mexico. These enquiries revealed the existence of some poppy plantations at Altar (Sonora). The Department immediately requested the Governor of the State to furnish full information on the subject. The Governor declared that various poppy plantations had been destroyed at Etchoropo (Sonora), but that, according to the enquiries made, it had been ascertained that no opium was extracted from the poppies.” The Mexican representative repeated that Mexico was not a country producing opium, and that the authorities continued to exercise active supervision in order to prevent the production of and illicit traffic in drugs. No. 771. — Seizure of 8 kg. 378 grs. of Cocaine Hydrochloride at Rangoon on April 14th, 1937, ex the s.s “ Hong Peng ”. Reference : The representative of the United Kingdom on the Advisory Committee Fô5C7S 300(/iî937'XI forwarded on October 21st, 1937, the following information in regard page 19 ; to this case, communicated by the Japanese Consul at Rangoon to the O.C.S./Conf. 315(a). Collector of Customs, Rangoon : “ One of the containers of the drug labelled ‘ Hoshi Tokio ’ was ascertained to be one that was used by that company for 25-oz. containers of cocaine hydrochloride, but it was very difficult to trace the purchaser, since the date and number, invariably put on labels by the distributors to keep a record of their sales, was torn off. There is no record at the Customs houses in Japan that the Hong Peng has ever called at Japanese ports. ” — 3 — PART II. A. REPORTS ON THE DISCOVERY OF CLANDESTINE MANUFACTURE OF NARCOTIC DRUGS. B. NEW CASES OF SEIZURES DIVIDED INTO THE FOLLOWING GROUPS : 1. Raw O p i u m . 5. Cocaine. 2. Prepared Opium and D ross. 6. N arcotic P ills. 3. Morphine. 7. I ndian H em p. 4. H eroin. 8. Miscellaneous. REPORTS ON THE DISCOVERY OF CLANDESTINE MANUFACTURE OF NARCOTIC DRUGS. Nil. B. NEW CASES OF SEIZURES. 1. RAW OPIUM. No. 788. — Seizure at Vienna on August 3rd, 1937. Report communicated by the Austrian Government, December 7th, 1937. Reference : 1 (a). Raw opium : 2 kg. 2. Person implicated : Johann Wagner,1 unemployed café waiter. 31927/387. 3 Wagner was arrested when about to hand 2 kg. of opium over to a person acting as his intermediary. According to information received, Wagner must have possessed a considerable stock of opium which, in spite of the efforts of the police, it has not been possible to discover. Wagner is a member of the Jean Kos1 gang. Quite recently, he was sentenced in Paris to eighteen months’ imprisonment for drug smuggling and was only released on June 7th, 1937. The opium probably came from Yugoslavia, since the Kos gang delivers only Yugoslav goods to Paris. Wagner’s assertions that he received the drugs from a certain Mirko as samples of a large stock of raw opium and heroin do not seem to coincide fully with the facts. 4. Wagner was sentenced by the District Court of Vienna to the maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. In addition, he was sentenced by the Narcotics Rureau of the Federal Police Authorities at Vienna to thirty days’ detention for the offence to which paragraph 5 of the Law on Toxic Substances relates. The opium was confiscated. No. 789. — Seizures in Hong-Kong during July 1937. Report communicated by the representative of the United Kingdom on the Advisory Committee, October 11th, 1937. Reference : 1 (a). Raw opium : 192 kg. 996 grs. (5,108 taels). •C.S./Conf. 380. 123 kg. 172 grs. were of Chinese origin and 69 kg. 823 grs. of 10051/388(2). Iranian origin. 2. There were twelve persons arrested. There were no arrests in two cases. 3. There were ten cases. In eight cases, the opium was found in houses ; in three of these cases, it was found in a specially constructed cavity under the floor of the kitchen. In one case it was found packed in large sealed tins with gunny bag covers, buried in the sand on the seashore just above high-water mark. In one case, it was found packed in sealed tins which were tied to a rope and dumped into the sea. 4. Four of the accused were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment ; three were sentenced to a fine of 100 Hong-Kong dollars (95 Swiss gold francs) or a further two months’ imprisonment ; one was sentenced to a fine of 600 dollars (580 Swiss gold francs) or a further three months’ imprisonment ; four were acquitted. 1 See documents C.307.M. 190.1936.XI [O.C.S.300(a)], pages 23 and 24, No. 158, and O.C.S./Conlidential/277. 3463 — S. d. N. 800 (F) 675 (A) 3/38 Imp. Granchamp, Annemasse. No. 790. — Seizures in Hong-Kong during August 1937. Report communicated by the representative of the United Kingdom on the Advisory Committee December 20th, 1937. Reference : 1 (a). Raw opium : 5 kg. 932 grs. Chinese origin. O.C.S./Conf. 434. 3. There were two seizures. In one case, the opium was seized 10051/388(2). from the accused on the waterfront ; in the second case, it was seized in a house in Kowloon ; in this case, the defendant was mixing the opium with gum when police officers entered the premises. 4. In the first case, the defendant was discharged owing to insufficient evidence. In the second case, the defendant was fined 2,000 Hong-Kong dollars (1,900 Swiss gold francs) or six months’ imprisonment. No. 791. — Seizure in Luk Chau Wan Bay, Lamma Island, Hong-Kong, September 13th, 1937. Report communicated by the representative of the United Kingdom on the Advisory Committee, December 20th, 1937. Reference : 1 (a ). Raw opium : 200 kg. 250 grs. O.C.S./Conf. 433. Prepared opium : 102 kg. 240 grs. 10051/388(2). 1^4 kg. 910 grs. of the raw opium were of Chinese origin and 45 kg. 340 grs. of Iranian origin. 54 kg. 785 grs. of the prepared opium bore the “ Lam Kee ” and “ Eagle ” marks ; 34 kg. 231 grs. bore the “ Lo Fuk Kee ” and “ Double Cash ” marks ; 11 kg. 335 grs. bore the “ Red Lion ” mark and 1 kg. 889 grs. bore the “ Lam Kee ” and “ Elephant ” marks. 3. As a result of information received, dredging operations were carried out in Luk Chau Wan Ray and three large, iron, watertight tanks, marked with small floats attached to each of them by wire ropes and sunk with metal sinkers on the sea bed in about six fathoms, were dragged up. The tanks had the appearance of having been immersed in sea water for some time. The first tank found had a screw cover and contained five large tins of opium ; the second tank was of similar design and contained ten packages of opium in gunny sacking ; the third and largest tank had an opening similar in type to the ordinary manhole door of a ship’s water tank, secured by twenty-four nuts, and contained nineteen packages of opium covered by gunny sacking. The packages bore cloth tabs with Chinese characters, which may be styles or surnames. The information was that it was dumped from the s.s. Wing Wo, en roule from Kwang-Chow-Wan to Hong-Kong, at Ling Ting and conveyed thence to the Luk Chau Wan Ray by a large junk. The prepared opium was packed in the usual one, two and five-tael tins, and these were in turn packed in metal containers, holding about 11 kg. each, which had been carefully sealed and done up in gunny bags. The raw opium was also packed in sealed tins of 15 to 19 kg., each of which was covered with gunny sacking.