Eighteen robber suspects, one of them a woman, were brought before the First Special District Court yesterday on a writ of detention in connection with the theft of more than $7,000 worth of 50 ingots of lead from the China Import and Export Lumber Company's godown in Myburgh Road, which crime was committed on November 9. Thanks to the efforts made by the Sinza police the stolen lead has been recovered. A truck alleged to have been used in removing the:|metal has also been found by the police.
Seventeen of the suspects were arrested on Wednesday in a lodging house off Canton Road and the 18th man, a chauffeur, was caught in Avenue Edward VII while he was driving the truck to the Ta Hua Transport Company, owners of the vehicle. Through the alleged confession made by one of the men the officers later visited two houses in Peking Road, where the stolen metal was recovered. of The police believed that the detained ren were connected with the robbery gong but no charge has been framed yet. Hearing wes postponed to Saturday of next week. the genuine product and that members of the gang were trying to do extensive business when caught. After questioning at length the nine accused, the judge announced that he would pass judgment on Monday next.
None of the nine accused appeared to be the ringleader behind the business. At least that was what they told the court. Most of them said that they in|were salesmen having connections with people who had direct connections with the manufacturer. They admitted passing' on the imitation cigarettes bearing the "Ruby Queen" trade mark on commission basis, obtaining a profit ranging from $5 to $60 depending on the quantity of cigarettes dealt in. They said that they did not know that they were dealing in imitation cigarettes.
From the hands of several commission men 50,000 imitation cigarettes were passed on to the purchaser who also stood in the prisoner's dock and the price in the deal changed from $275 to $315. A Chinese representative of the victimized British tobacco firm whose duty it is to investigate imitation cigarettes told the court that the price for the same quantity of genuine product was $660. It was understood that the accused had sold their products to people living in the interior where the influence of authorities of the Settlement does not extend.
The court was told that a cart-puller wad first arrested in Shanghai Road lon November 5 because some imitation cigarettes were found in his cart. Through his alleged confession, a raid was conducted in a house in Kwangsi Road where most of the men were arrested. A Connaught Road house, supposed tu be the godown of the gang, was raided and there the Central Police found 100,000 imitation "Ruby Queen" cigarettes and much other material including paper for counterfeiting purposes. The raids [were under the direction of Mr. D. G. jones.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.