Opium Raids, 1950s

Fred Steed joined Customs in 1945 and worked mainly in opium detection during the 1950s.

His first raid was in a building off Little Bourke Street in Melbourne, after officers smelt opium from the street.

'We would congregate up the top end of Little Bourke Street and walk slowly down. Two hiding in this doorway, two in that one, two on the other side. We'd wait for them to come out of the opium dens.

'We knew they were smoking because you could smell it. You can smell opium a mile off, smells like foliage burnin'. You'd come up the alley and pull a string that opened the door. But first we had to do something about the lighting in the alleyway. We picked up a few stones and all had a shot at knockin' this big globe out so we wouldn't be seen. Eventually after about ten shots we got it and pulled the string. First Chinaman comes down and sings out 'himon, himon'. Open goes the door and we rushed it. He's got two parcels in his arms and this poor Chinaman gets knocked over.

'"What for, what for? All I got is two chickens," he says.

'We went upstairs as fast as we could, forced open the door and saw these poor devils all smokin' in there. They're all huddled up, you know. They get very cold, very cold smokin'. And they stand on their heads, oh, it's marvellous the things they do. It's terrible actually to see them in this state.

'The manager, or the fellow in charge, a fellow named Mahchow, was most surprised to see us. He said "oh well, oh well". That's all he said.'

- Fred Steed

Marijuana and heroin became a problem in the early 1960s. Fred recalls searching for a plantation on the outskirts of Canberra with the sole Customs sniffer dog in Australia, which was based in Sydney. The search was abandoned when the dog got a burr up its nose.

Fred also tracked illegal importation of tobacco and in later years, bird smugglers.