Because of the alertness of a Japanese Consular policeman on the Garden Bridge, one Formosan and 18 Chinese men and women were behind bars on Saturday, the "Shanghai Nippo" reported yesterday.
Their detention followed the discovery of an illicit cigarette plant at No. 2 Anning Lane, Range Road, where eight Chinese men and ten Chinese women had been engaged in the manufacture of counterfeit Ruby Queen and Pirate cigarettes since July 1.
Mokka Ko, the Formosan, was named as the head of the ring, which besides the 18 Chinese hands, included an undetermined number of "salesmen" who peddled the plant's products in the Settlement and the French Concession at the "cut rate" of $230 per box containing 500 cigarettes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.