250,000 Ib, Landed: Taken Inland by Chinese Guards Carrying 250,000 1b. of opium contained in 2,000 cases, a steamer which attracted the attention of the League "f Nations when it sailed from a "port in a certain producing country," identified as Bushire, Persia, is reported to have landed its shipment among the islands off the mouth of the Yangtze river.
Afte: following a devious course on her way to China, the steamer is understood to have made for one of the islands at the mouth of the Yangtze, not far from Shanghai, and transferred the opium to the custody of a party of Chinese, some of whom wore military uniforms. A large payment of cash was handed over in exchange, This amazing episode follows mention of the departure of the vessel as long ago as May. In a message from Geneva relating to the League Council and the drug traffic in "The Times" of May 15, there appeared the following passage:
Mx, Arthur Henderson said that the British Government was continuously receiving information showing how widespread and how dangerous the illicit traffic was. That morning he had received from London a letter in which it was stated that a ship had cently left a "port in a certain producing country,"—it may be mentioned that the port is:
ushire;—with 2,000 eases containing the "appalling quantity" of 250,000 Ib, of opium, all for the Inquiries establish the fact that the vessel which left the Persian ult in May was in due course seen off Saigon, and it is believed to have communicated with the shore and received instructions as to the dis posal of her cargo. The same vessel subsequently touched at Keelung. and Tsingtao and eventually reached Shanghai with, of course, no trace of any illicit goods on board.
nevertheless, there is reason to believe that at one stage of her voyage, this vessel, which masqueraded under different names, reached one of the islands off' the mouth of the Yangtze and then transferred the 2,000 cases of opium to a party of Chinese, and a large sum of money was received in exchange.
It is hardly necessary to add that there is little or no mystery about the opium traffic between the Persian Gulf and the Far East. It is well-established business by which large quantities of the drug are shipped usually to Vladivostok but never reach that or any other closed dest Transhipment is surreptitiously effected at any of the numerous islands that fringe the coast of China, and the prohibited opium under Chinese guards ix speedily delivered on the mainland.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.