Opium Seized.
p. 18 · Read in the full issue
Raid on Chinese Store in Apia.
From Our Own Correspondent.
APIA, April 17.
ON April 10, Inspector Bransby, of Apia Police, with a squad of men raided the store of Ah Soon, at Tau fusi, Apia, and, after a search, seized 63 tins of opium valued at £200, con cealed on the premises. Several arrests were made.
Ah Soon, a well-known Apia Chinese merchant, died a few months ago and the store is run by his sons, Chinese- Samoans, educated in Hongkong.
The increased vigilance of the police is probably due to an incident in a New Zealand court recently, when a sailor accused of having opium found in his possession, stated that he had bought the stuff cheap in Samoa.
It is reported that lately, owing to ex tensive smuggling of opium, besides Chinese a number of young Samoan half-castes and Samoan natives have taken to opium smoking. As most of the inveterate addicts of the vice have left Samoa by the last Chinese transport, it should be easy to eradicate the evil.