Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2005 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Ari Bloomekatz, Seattle Times staff reporter

ALLEGED SMUGGLERS ACROSS BORDER DUG THEIR WAY INTO TRAP

LYNDEN, Whatcom County A-- The stretch of U.S.-Canada border in these
parts is little more than a ditch between two parallel roads.

But U.S. and Canadian officials say a group of drug smugglers went to
elaborate lengths to breach the heavily patrolled border, spending
more than six months and $1 million to build a sophisticated, lighted
tunnel so the smugglers could transport potent "B.C. Bud" marijuana
from Canada into Washington state.

Authorities from both countries, however, learned of the tunnel long
before it was completed and set a trap to catch the men in the act.

After months of surveillance, the trap was sprung Wednesday afternoon
and three Canadian men were arrested. They were charged yesterday in
U.S. District Court in Seattle with conspiracy to distribute marijuana
and conspiracy to import marijuana.

Two other people were arrested Saturday in Washington state while
transporting marijuana that came through the tunnel, authorities said.

"It was well-built," Rodney Benson, special agent in charge for the
Drug Enforcement Administration in Seattle, said of the tunnel.
"Probably one of the most sophisticated tunnels we've seen in the
United States."

The tunnel is about 360 feet long and was built with an estimated
1,000 2-by-6-foot wooden supports and rebar. Authorities said it had
electricity and ventilation. The passage leads from a Quonset hut
sandwiched between greenhouses and a large white house on the Canadian
side of the border, beneath two roads and ends beneath the living room
of a home on the U.S. side.

Drug smugglers have built elaborate tunnels for years to transport
drugs and people between Mexico and the U.S. But federal officials
said the Lynden tunnel is the first discovered along the Canada-U.S.
border.

The tunnel is about a quarter-mile east of the Aldergrove/Lynden
border-crossing station.

The three men began using the tunnel to carry shipments of marijuana
across the border earlier this month, Benson said. Authorities seized
about 200 pounds of marijuana that had been transported through the
tunnel, Benson said. It was not immediately known if that represents
all of the marijuana brought through the tunnel.

The three men charged A-- Francis Devandra Raj, 30; Timothy Woo, 34;
and Jonathan Valenzuela, 27 A-- are all from Surrey, B.C. They were
arrested after authorities said they carried 93 pounds of marijuana in
hockey and garbage bags through the completed tunnel.

Federal prosecutors charged Raj, Woo and Valenzuela with conspiracy to
distribute marijuana and conspiracy to import marijuana. yesterday in
U.S. District Court. They were ordered held at the federal detention
center in SeaTac pending a bail hearing scheduled for July 26. Woo
pleaded not guilty yesterday to an earlier charge, from 1999, charging
him with conspiracy to import marijuana.

Border authorities watched as the men delivered the drugs to a woman
who was waiting at Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham and arrested them
when they returned to the house on East Boundary Road on the U.S. side
of the border. The woman, who was driving with an 18-month-old child,
was arrested after a Washington State Patrol officer stopped her car
in Ellensburg.

Benson said a Renton man was arrested Saturday during a traffic stop
in Enumclaw with 110 pounds of marijuana brought through the tunnel.

"There are clearly other individuals that will be arrested in the
coming days," Benson said.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the men
planned to sell the drugs for $500 a pound and estimated they could
bring about 300 pounds through the tunnel at a time.

Seattle is often considered a hub for "B.C. Bud," another name for
marijuana imported from British Columbia. Benson said B.C. Bud is a
$1-billion-a-year industry.

At a news conference yesterday at the Aldergrove/Lynden border
crossing, Kim Scoville, director of the Canadian Border Services
Agency, said law enforcement had been watching the men ever since they
began investigating a cocaine-smuggling ring in October 2003. Their
investigations of Raj and the other men led authorities to the Quonset
hut and house, Scoville said.

According to the complaint, Raj owns the property on the Canadian side
of the border where the hut, house and greenhouses are located. The
complaint alleges Raj is a suspected drug dealer with a criminal
history of marijuana possession and immigration violations.

Beginning in January of this year, authorities noticed Raj and the
other men carrying construction tools in and out of the residence and
stepped up their investigation and surveillance., Scoville said.

"Lumber going in and soil going out," Scoville said. "It wasn't too
difficult to come to the conclusion that a tunnel was being
constructed."

Other arrests

Border authorities in the U.S. learned of the tunnel from an
informant, a Canadian drug dealer who had smuggled Ecstasy into the
U.S.

U.S. Attorney John McKay said border patrols in the U.S. and Canada
worked closely to develop a plan to investigate the construction and
eventually arrest the suspects.

McKay said seismographic technology was used during the investigation
to gather more information about the tunnel and to determine whether
it was occupied. Authorities said 10-men teams from both sides of the
border took shifts monitoring the area around the clock.

Border concerns

U.S. officials obtained a so-called "sneak and peek" warrant A--
meaning they didn't have to give immediate notification of the target
of the investigation A-- and on July 2, agents in the U.S. planted
video and audio surveillance equipment in the house and garage on the
U.S. side, and audio surveillance in the tunnel, McKay said.

Officials used the surveillance to watch and listen to the
construction of the tunnel as well as gather information about the
men's plans.

The house on the U.S. side had been abandoned. But the owner of the
property is being investigated in connection with the drug
trafficking, McKay said.

U.S. officials said the discovery of the tunnel raises concerns beyond
drug smuggling. Authorities fear such tunnels could be used to smuggle
weapons, explosives or people.

"The presence of a tunnel raises serious questions for security
agencies on both sides of the border," said McKay.

Julie Luke, 51, said she has been living next to Raj's house for 22
years. Raj bought the property about three years ago, Luke said, and
introduced himself as the owner of an automobile body shop in Vancouver.

Luke said Raj told her he purchased the house as an investment, and
that for the first two years Raj rarely came by.

But over the past year, Luke said, she heard the sound of banging and
"metal hitting metal" from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day.

"He said he owned a body shop," Luke said. "It made
sense."

Seattle Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge in Seattle
contributed to this report.

A Brief History Of Border Tunnels

U.S. authorities say a drug-smuggling tunnel in Lynden, Whatcom
County, is the first to be found along the U.S.-Canadian border. But
dozens of similar tunnels have been found along the U.S. border with
Mexico. Here are some:

July 2, 2004: A U.S. Border Patrol bus sinks into the ground near a
parking lot in San Ysidro, Calif., leading to the discovery of a
15-foot-long, unfinished tunnel.

Nov. 12, 2003: The Border Patrol discovers a 500-foot tunnel between
Mexicali, Mexico, and Calexico, Calif. It was located about a block
away from a similar tunnel discovered in September 2002.

Dec. 11, 2001: U.S. Customs Service special agents find a
sophisticated drug tunnel running under the border between a wash in
Mexico and a Nogales, Ariz., home. The 4-foot-high, 40-foot-long
tunnel was strung with electricity and tracks had been laid,
suggesting its operators planned to move drugs through on a dolly.

May 1990: Authorities discover a concrete-lined, electrified 300-foot
tunnel running between a home in Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a warehouse
in Douglas, Ariz.

Feb. 26, 2001: Federal agents discover a 25-foot dirt tunnel that was
apparently being used to smuggle drugs and seized 840 pounds of
cocaine from a Tucson, Ariz., house at one end of the passage. The
crude, hand-dug tunnel ran from a sewer system to the house about
three-quarters of a mile north of the Mexican border.

Oct. 21, 1999: Authorities find a tunnel that runs from beneath the
kitchen floor of a vacant house to a nearby storm drain connected to
the Nogales Wash, which runs from Mexico into Arizona.

Jan. 19, 1999: Federal agents discover a pair of tunnels up to 2 miles
long with electric lights and ventilation they say were used to
smuggle drugs from Nogales, Mexico, into the United States.

Compiled by Seattle Times researcher David Turim.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek