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part played by the appellant he was indictable here for it. Further support for our
view is to be found in R v Smith (Donald). That was a case, concerning cannabis,

under s 304 of the 1952 Act, and though the issues there were quite different from

those here, counsel for the appellant very properly drew our attention to this
sentence ([1973] 2 All ER at 1167, [1973] QB at 936) in the judgment of the

court delivered by Willis J: 'It was quite unnecessary to prove that the applicant
did anything to further the transaction in this country.'”

C. Knowingly Harbouring Uncustomed Goods/ Knowingly Harbouring Uncustomed Goods With
Intent to Defraud the Government

The offence of “knowingly harbouring uncustomed goods” is found in only certain
36
jurisdictions throughout the region. Historically, the interpretation of section 186 of the English
Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, in the decision in Frailey v. Charlton [1920] 1 K.B. 147, may
have shaped what is now section 170(1)(b) of the United Kingdom’s Customs and Excise

Management Act 1979 where “intent to defraud” is an essential ingredient. Consequently,
37
jurisdictions that have adopted section 170(1)(b) can be immediately distinguished on the basis
of the additional “intent to defraud” criteria . In this vein, the Judicial Committee of the Privy

Council in Simmonds v. R [1997] 3 LRC 501, at page 512, enunciated:

“This view, as has already been said, is in conflict with the decision of the

Divisional Court in Frailey v Charlton, where the Divisional Court did not, as it
seems from the report, have the advantage of the detailed arguments addressed to

their Lordships in the present case nor the analysis of the Jamaican Court of
Appeal in Barbar. Their Lordships consider the approach in the latter case to be

36 See Belize: Section 112(1)(e) of the Customs Regulation Act, Guyana: Section 218(c) of the Customs
Act, Jamaica: Section 210(1) of the Customs Act, St. Kitts and Nevis: Section 242(5) of the Customs Act,
St. Lucia: Section 127(2) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act, St. Vincent and the Grenadines:
Section 122 of the Customs (Control and Management) Act and Trinidad and Tobago: Section 213(c) of
the Customs Act
37 See Antigua and Barbuda: Section 175(1)(b) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act,
Barbados: Section 104(3)(a) of the Customs Act [which is only similar to section 170(1)(b)], Dominica:
Section 189(1)(b) of the Customs Act, Grenada: Section 179(1)(b) of the Customs Act and St. Kitts and
Nevis: Section 185(1)(b) of the Customs Act, St. Lucia: Section 116(1)(b) of the Customs (Control and
Management) Act and St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Section 111(1)(b) of the Customs (Control and
Management) Act

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