Pubdate: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Peace Arch News Contact: http://www.peacearchnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333 Author: Dan Ferguson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/patriot+act SURREY SUSPECTS CHARGED IN MILLION-DOLLAR CASE CANADIAN - U.S. BORDER - American investigators say a small group of Surrey marijuana growers smuggled millions of dollars in pot profits across the border last year. During a nine-month period, the 15 Canadians and Americans brought $2.6 million (U.S.) across the border on 16 occasions. In the same period, another $434,000 (U.S.) was intercepted at the border on four occasions by U.S. Customs agents who caught "couriers" with cash jammed into compartments in their vehicles or concealed on clothing. The U.S. indictments say between Jan. 21 and Oct. 9, 2003, an undercover agent working as a courier for the conspirators brought amounts ranging from $48,000 to $354,000 across the border from Washington State into B.C. Each time, the courier was given an undisclosed percentage of the delivery-described as a "smuggling fee"-by the recipients. Most of the smuggled money ended up in Surrey, where 14 of the 16 successful deliveries arrived (two of the 14 were sent to Cloverdale). Deliveries were also made to Vancouver and Richmond. One female smuggler stuffed $149,000 into her nylons in an unsuccessful bid to avoid detection at the border, while another man hid the money "on the persons of his wife, niece and nephew, who were passengers" in the man's vehicle, court documents state. An affidavit filed in Seattle by J. Robert Klotz, special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says two brothers-Tri Duc Phan and Quyen Tan Phan-ran the scheme to smuggle money raised for the sale of Surrey-grown B.C. bud back into Canada. Klotz said the pot was smuggled across the border using a hiking trail, with the Canadian growers leaving the bud for pickup by drivers on the other side. One U.S. suspect was nabbed with 260 pounds of pot in his pickup truck on the I-5 highway near Boeing field. The 15, including five Canadians, face charges of violating the U.S. Patriot Act ban on so-called "bulk cash smuggling." If convicted, they face up to five years in jail and forfeiture of the illegally transported money. It's the first time the Patriot Act has been invoked in Washington. The law was passed after the 9/11 attacks to counter terrorist money-laundering, but also applies to "international drug cartels and others engaged in organized crime," U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said in a written statement. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin