cannabisnews.com: Border Alert Helps Snarl Drug Traffic 





Border Alert Helps Snarl Drug Traffic 
Posted by FoM on January 28, 2002 at 08:03:09 PT
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Source: Seattle Times
The post-Sept. 11 vigilance along the Canadian border has yet to yield any terrorists trying to sneak into the United States. But federal officials say increased security and staff helped lead to two big drug busts this month. Border Patrol officials in Western Washington, whose ranks have been boosted by the temporary assignment of 20 new agents, on Wednesday snagged a cocaine-filled backpack left in a ditch east of Blaine.
The 76 pounds of cocaine presumably were left for a courier to pick up and whisk north to Canada. With an estimated street value of $800,000, the cocaine seizure was the agency's largest for the Washington border zone. U.S. Customs officials have positioned more agents at remote border crossings and increased overtime pay to extend the hours worked by agents at the Blaine crossing. On Jan. 15, the Blaine agents found a record 1,400 pounds of marijuana in sacks mixed in with a semitrailer full of beer. The driver was headed for California, where the "B.C. Bud" would have had a street value topping $7 million. "We're better at what we do because of 9/11. We're more diligent, and we're looking harder," said Rodney Tureaud Jr., Seattle-based U.S. Customs enforcement chief. Even with the increased state of alert, federal officials say they get only a small percentage of the drugs that move across the Canadian border. Cocaine generally moves north into Canada. But most of the trade is marijuana that moves south to U.S. markets. In the past two decades, British Columbia marijuana has evolved into a $1 billion-a-year industry, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Some of the B.C. marijuana is grown outdoors in clear-cuts and other remote locations. But most is grown indoors under carefully controlled conditions. It has gained a reputation for potency and quality that fetches premium prices in U.S. markets. Increasingly, drug smugglers are buying properties along the border and in other strategic areas that can be used as staging grounds for smuggling into the United States, Tureaud said. The B.C. marijuana moves south in many ways. Motorboats, fishing boats and sailboats haul it through Canada's Gulf Islands and into Puget Sound. Small planes make short-hop flights. Backpackers hike through the North Cascades. And drivers — ranging from teenagers to grandmothers — smuggle it along the roads in cars, motor homes, pickups and big semitrailers such as the beer truck driven by 28-year-old Dhillon Jafwinder of Brampton, Ontario. Jafwinder, who was arraigned last week in Whatcom County Superior Court, said he picked up the load in Vancouver, B.C., and did not know marijuana had been stowed in bags stashed among the beer pallets. Jafwinder is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a felony. If found guilty, he likely would serve no more than three months in jail, according to Rosemary Kaholokula, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Whatcom County. He could be back to driving a truck before the year's end. The Jafwinder bust is part of a post-Sept. 11 upswing in the amount of marijuana seized at the border. It's unclear how much of that increase is due to better surveillance, such as a new X-ray system to help screen trucks, and how much is due to a trend toward bigger marijuana shipments. Since Oct. 1, U.S. Customs agents have seized 6,036 pounds of marijuana in the Blaine district, more than triple the amount during the same period in 2000. But the actual number of seizures is down. Since Oct. 1, U.S. Customs has made 76 seizures, down from 99 in the same period in 2000. The efforts to increase border security have been closely monitored by the B.C. marijuana industry. And within the industry, there is at least a perception of increased risk in the months since the terrorist attacks, says Dana Larsen, editor of Vancouver-based Cannabis Culture. Instead of sending marijuana south to the United States, some smugglers are choosing what they view as safer options. Larsen said they are sending their marijuana on less-profitable, but safer, routes to traffic in the cities of eastern Canada. Or they're selling more in British Columbia. This is expected to create a glut at least in B.C. markets and depress prices, said Larsen, whose magazine offers an eclectic mix of articles ranging from pot art to "Marijuana and the New World Order." In the years ahead, border security is expected to continue to increase. The U.S. Defense Department is getting involved, providing training and 200 personnel to aid in intelligence and air patrols along the northern border. And there is strong support in Congress and the White House for increasing spending along the U.S. border with Canada. President Bush traveled to Portland, Maine, on Friday to propose adding $2.1 billion for border security. That would include $1.2 billion for more Border Patrol agents and $619 million to hire 800 more U.S. Customs Service officials and buy new inspection equipment. Border Patrol agents have been saying for years that they need more help in trying to watch the 4,000-mile border with Canada. One of the busiest smuggling areas has been the Blaine sector, which stretches from Port Angeles to the western Cascades. In 1999, Eugene Davis, then the deputy chief patrol agent in the Blaine sector, told a House subcommittee that a lack of manpower prevented Customs agents from responding to about half of the alarms set off by electronic sensors installed to detect intruders. On Jan. 14, the Blaine sector did receive some more support. The agent count reached 77, as 20 agents were given a 60-day temporary reassignment to help patrol the sector. The extra staffing gives agents more time to do routine patrols rather than scrambling off to respond to special calls, said John Bates, the current deputy chief patrol agent. Last week, on one of these routine patrols, agents spotted the cocaine backpack lying in a ditch a few miles east of Blaine. It was filled with four soap boxes that dogs sniffed out as cocaine. Agents staked out the backpack, in hopes of finding the courier who would take it to Canada. But they were unsuccessful. Larsen, the Cannabis Culture editor, said international smugglers are likely to respond to increased security along the B.C. border by shifting more effort to remote areas in other provinces. In a recent column in his magazine, Larsen also advised smugglers to take to the sea, turn marijuana into smaller quantities of more potent, more easily transportable hashish and to "nurture a love for the great outdoors" with more cross-the-border backpack trips. Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Hal Bernton, Seattle Times Staff ReporterPublished: Monday, January 28, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis Culturehttp://www.cannabisculture.com/Bush Adds $2-Billion To Border Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11858.shtmlBorder Patrol Takes To The Air http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11708.shtmlU.S. Plans Stronger Border Security http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11467.shtml 
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