Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-11-10 | Page 41 | Opium Smuggling is a Big Industry

OPIUM SMUGGLING IS A BIG INDUSTRY Great Quantities of the Drug Are Taken Into Harbin From Eastern Siberia, k VLADIVOSTOK, Nov. 9. Opium smuggling smug-gling from eastern Siberia into Harbin offers of-fers such alluring rewards that scarcely an opportunity is overlooked by train porters por-ters and conductors. The prepared drug will bring triple its purchase price if safely safe-ly delivered in the Manchurlan town. A young American woman, traveling In a private" car from Vladivostok, recently unearthed a mysterious package In her compartment. The car porter seeing it in , her hands attempted to snatch it. Being: a young woman of spirit, she grabbed up a pistol, whereupon the porter fell upon his knees and begged for mercy. With a little persuasion, he produced from beneath be-neath the young woman's berth a dozen more similar packages. They aggregated several pounds of opium. Other Americans on beard were summoned sum-moned and It was decide.1 to turn over the opium and the porter to the first customs officer encountered. This was done in the station at Harbin. The customs cus-toms officer confiscated the drug, thereby earning a reward of several hundred rubles, but declared he had no authority tj arrest the smuggler, and the porter went his way.