Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2003
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyitoronto.com/torsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Jason Botchford

SMUGGLERS HAVE EASY GO INTO U.S.

Danny has recently returned to Vancouver from his first smuggling job. It 
was organized by a friend after Danny told him he was going to California 
for a two-week vacation.

"He made it sound so easy," Danny said. "It was."

Danny crossed the B.C.-Washington State border on a bus with just his 
backpack filled with clothes. He said he wouldn't have agreed to the 
smuggling part if he would have had to cross the border with marijuana.

Fake Whales

In an undisclosed location near the border in Blaine, Washington, Danny 
picks up 20 kg of B.C. marijuana in a hockey bag inside a van. He doesn't 
know how it got there, he doesn't ask questions.

 From there, Danny drives the pot to California for a drop. For his work he 
was paid $250 US.

"It just about paid for my trip and I knew that the chances of getting 
caught were small," Danny said.

Boats, hollowed-out logs and even fake whales with global positioning, are 
all tools of the trade for smugglers. Traffickers can sell marijuana which 
costs about $200 to grow in Canada for $3,000 US south of the border.

The profits are potentially enormous and people will do anything to get 
marijuana to the U.S. where residents buy up Canadian pot by metric tons.

"To patrol the border is simply impossible," B.C. marijuana activist Marc 
Emery said. "It just can't be done. Too many coves, too many mountains. 
Anyone who gets caught is just not doing it right."

Drug Mules

The U.S. Border Patrol said marijuana seizures at B.C.-U.S. crossing points 
have increased 2,500% in the past five years.

Tyler Morgan, investigations officer for U.S. Customs in Blaine, 
Washington, said although the largest percentage of smuggling is still at 
major ports of entry, many smugglers have moved to more remote locations, 
like national parks, to avoid contact with border enforcement.

Drug mules, who pass through North Cascades as middlemen or couriers, are 
now paid about $500 for every kilogram they carry through the snow-covered 
mountains at the border.

RCMP and U.S. border officials have set up an "Integrated Border 
Enforcement Team" (IBET) along 250 km of the crucial pot smuggling area 
that starts on the Pacific coast. It's hoped the extra scrutiny will have a 
real effect as border agents estimate that they now catch only 2% of the 
bud headed south.
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MAP posted-by: Alex