AXIS SPY GROUPS SMASHED IN COAST RAIDS; 300 JAILED
NIPPONESE TAKEN IN F.B.I. ROUND-UP HERE
[Photo caption]: Here are some of the 103 Japanese rounded up by federal authorities in Seattle yesterday. All the prisoners were members of what the government said are pro-Japanese societies. The federal agents let each prisoner take a small amount of baggage with him, and here you see the result: The man at the left, with a suitcase; the second man, peering around at the cameraman, has a package in this arms, while others carry shopping bags. They are shown as they were taken into the Immigration Station, 815 Airport Way, for detention. None seems particularly happy.
103 JAPS SEIZED IN SEATTLE; ALL STATE NOW DEFENSE ZONE
Enemy Aliens Linked With Berlin, Rome And Tokyo; Four States Are Covered in Round-Up; Arms, Signaling Devices Are Seized; Governor Acts to Guard Plants
In the greatest mass raid on fifth-columnists and suspected spies since the United States entered the war, federal agents and local law-enforcement officers on the Pacific Coast yesterday arrested more than 300 Japanese, German and Italian aliens, including 103 Japanese in Seattle.
Federal Bureau of Investigation authorities declared the surprise raids were directed at seizing enemy nationals identified with secret societies and propaganda groups operated out of Berlin, Tokyo and Rome.
The F.B.I. said prisoners taken in the coast-wide raids included members of a German labor front headed in Berlin by Dr. Robert Ley, members of an Italian organization fostering a fascist program in the United States, and Japanese who collected funds for Japanese army and navy purposes.
More than 100 federal and local officers operated in and around Seattle in the raids, which extended over Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona.
H.B. Fletcher, head of the F.B.I. here, directed the Seattle and King County raids, assisted by deputy sheriffs and police. Arresting officers said the Japanese arrested
The arrested aliens face internment in Montana, Colorado or in other inland states.
Signal Device Seized
In Oregon raids, eight German and four Japanese aliens were arrested and short-wave radios, firearms and a signaling device were seized.
Federal agents arrested 112 Axis nationals in Northern California, including 43 in San Francisco. In Southern California, the F.B.I. said at least 200 enemy aliens, mostly Japanese, would be taken into custody before the drive was finished. Fifty officers operating in San Diego County arrested 35 "highly nationalistic" Japanese aliens, including some of the celery-farming district near the Mexican border.
The F.B.I. raided premises of 61 enemy aliens in Arizona, seizing 75 sticks of dynamite and caps, 50 rounds of ammunition, four rifles, a shotgun, flashlights and three radios with short-wave equipment.
Raids Near Big Plants
Many of the raids were carried out short distances from important defense industries, aircraft factories, military posts and Navy bases.
The F.B.I. and local authorities began the coast-wide raids almost simultaneously and were moving so fast that it was difficult to obtain an accurate determination of the number of arrests being made.
Gov. Arthur B. Langlie yesterday proclaimed the entire state a protective defense area and ordered all Japanese to surrender contraband to the State Patrol.
Knives, two short-wave radio sets and a motion-picture camera were articles seized from Japanese in Seattle.
State patrolmen were dispatched in Eatonville and National yesterday to seize contraband articles from Japanese aliens in the two communities.
Governor Langlie ordered all Japanese in the state, whether aliens or citizens, to surrender firearms, explosives, short-wave radio sets and any other property which might be considered dangerous to the safety of the nation.
Yesterday's arrests brought to 268 the total number of Japanese aliens taken into custody here since the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Previously, only enemy aliens had been required to surrender contraband property, and only small sections of the state, of particular strategic importance, had been declared protective defense areas.
Would Get Property Back
Japanese were given until Thursday to turn the banned property over to the State Patrol. It will be returned to them within six months after the end of the war, on presentation of receipts.
White American citizens also were affected by the proclamation, since it authorized the State Patrol to regulate the sale, storage and use of explosives and firearms in the hands of everyone in the state.
The governor said the regulations will not interfere with ordinary firearms sales to sportsmen for hunting purpose, however.