YUGOSLAV TUG ENCOUNTERS EXCESSIVE CUSTOMS MEASURES ON DANUBE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700040118-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 118
• Publication Date: January 23, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
CLASSIFICATI% ,~, ITYTIIC~TRICTED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
Political. - Customs
Transportation - River
PUBLISHED Weekly newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED New York
DATE
PUBLISHED 1 Dec 1951
LANGUAGE
dl/ OOCOUIU CONTAINS Innis "*N IRCOU TOI 090OLL *MM
OF TOt 01St tliTII tittin TU OUOIU OF UMUAII ACT 10
I. /. C.. II UO at. U MIOOCO. ID T/AW OIIIIOO 0I TII uTCUnoN
or Ih COOTIOTS IN /OT S.410 TO U ASSOdanno IVUOI It TU-
^IORC OT Uta. -409-0. OF M. ... 1.
STAT
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1951
DATE DIST. 23 Jan 1952
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
YUGOSLAV TUG ENCOUNTERS
EXCESSIVE CUSTOMS MEASURES ON DANUBE
The following account of excessive Hungarian customs measures encountered
by the Yugoslav steam tug Sabac was given by a Transylvanian river seaman of
Hungarian descent.
The tug, which, was towing six loaded barges through the Hungarian portion
of the Danube to Vienna, was met at the Hungarian border and surrounded by four
river patrol boats. A heavy machine gun mounted on each boat was kept trained
on the tug, and the military personnel carried Soviet-type automatic rifles.
At Mohacs, a representative from the tug was rowed ashore, and escorted
to and from the customhouse by an armed complement of 20 men. An escort of
more than 20 police, customs officers, and soldiers rowed back to the tug
with the Yugoslav representative. The minute customs examination of the tug
and barges which followed was designed to provoke the tug's personnellto
violence. The blue-uniformed river patrol, soldiers in yellow-green uniforms,
and customs officers armed with pistols examined the crew's personal effects,
including such things as matchboxes, "ersonal letters and rolls of film,
had barrels of drinking water emptied, inspected smokestacks, and all con-
ceivable hiding places. The examination lasted 6 hours. At night, the
tug was allowed to proceed under the searchlights of the escorting patrol
boats.
At Budapest, a Hungarian customs officer appeared at night to beg a loaf
of bread for his children from the tug captain. The tug crew had to forego
taking on water at Budapest, since it was impossible to do so in the 10
minutes allowed for this purpose.
Three days later, at Szob, instead of the usual rapid, formal inspec-
tion, the same 6-hour detailed examination was repeated.
The only examination performed on a Soviet tug which arrived with four
barges at Szob consisted of a handshake between the Hungarian official and the
Soviet commander.
END
-1-
RESTRICTED REMICTEJ
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/31 :
CIA-RDP80-00809A000700040118-5