Pubdate: Sat, 04 Nov 2006
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Jack Knox, Times Colonist

ECSTASY SMUGGLING SURGES

PORT ANGELES - It was like an episode of Keystone Krooks, would have 
been pretty funny were it not so serious. The four guys smuggling the 
drugs from Canada had trouble pulling their boat ashore, saw their 
truck and trailer slide into the water instead, so the U.S. 
undercover cops who were watching them had to mosey over and help get 
them unstuck.

Then the cops busted the smugglers -- the man who had piloted the 
24-foot Maxum, plus the three other Vancouver men who were waiting 
for him at the Freshwater Bay boat launch west of Port Angeles on 
Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

What the American authorities found on board on Oct. 20 was a 
massive, multimillion-dollar cargo of ecstasy -- evidence of a major 
shift in the drug trade between B.C. and the U.S.

Long used to intercepting shipments of B.C. Bud marijuana, American 
authorities say they are now finding more and more Ecstasy flowing 
south into western Washington.

The change in the past couple of years has been dramatic, says Roy 
Hoffman, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement at Blaine, Wash. "It's unprecedented."

Authorities say the drug, a stimulant, is being manufactured in the 
Lower Mainland, where it is relatively easy to obtain ingredients 
that are now hard to get in the U.S.

That's reflected in the stats: 56 kilograms of ecstasy seized 
entering western Washington from Canada in 2004, climbing to 288 in 
2005 and 415 in 2006. And that's just the amount found at the 
official border crossings, doesn't even count the stuff slipping in 
through the San Juan Islands or across Juan de Fuca Strait by boat.

They found just over 200 kilograms of Ecstasy aboard a boat named 
Just Chillin' in October's Freshwater Bay bust, an estimated 750,000 
to one million tablets -- some pink, some green -- wrapped in plastic 
and crammed into five hockey bags and a suitcase. Authorities believe 
the Ecstasy was boated from Vancouver and bound for Los Angeles and 
Houston, where it might fetch $20 per pill on the street.

"It has really grown in the past three years," says Mike Milne, a 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Seattle. "We're 
seizing less marijuana and more Ecstasy."

It's easy to see why. By weight, ecstasy is worth more than B.C. Bud 
and is easier to hide. In Port Angeles, a pound of B.C. Bud 
wholesales for $2,500 US to $3,500 US, says Capt. Ron Cameron of the 
Clallam County Sheriff's office. The price rises as it goes south, 
hitting maybe $5,000 in Los Angeles. ("It picks up a dollar a mile 
going down the I-5," says Cameron.)

Ecstasy can be manufactured for just 80 cents to $2 a pill, and sell 
for much more than that. "The lowest I've ever seen it in bulk is $5 
a pill," says Cameron. "It goes on the street for $20 to $25."

Cameron, the son of Victoria-raised parents, heads the Olympic 
Peninsula's multi-agency Narcotics Enforcement Team. His area saw a 
surge in smuggling activity in 2004, when authorities prosecuted a 
dozen dope-by-boat cases, arrested more than 20 people and seized 
close to two tonnes of marijuana.

It's quieted down a bit since then, the smugglers perhaps favouring 
commercial trucks crossing from the Lower Mainland over fast boats 
from Vancouver Island. Clallam County cops still find evidence of 
continued smuggling -- a stray bag of dope floating in the chuck, 
large quantities of money stashed in the woods -- but not on the same 
scale as a couple of years ago.

The ecstasy bust threw everyone for a loop, Cameron said. "We've 
never seen that before here."

They may see more, though, because it's now easier to find the 
ingredients to make crystal meth and Ecstasy in Canada than in 
Washington. The so-called precursors are strictly controlled in the 
U.S. It's harder to buy Sudafed or other cold medication including 
pseudoephedrine, a key meth ingredient. "You can't go to a Wal-Mart 
or a local pharmacy without signing for it anymore," says Cameron. 
Ditto for red phosphorus.

Canada has also tightened its precursor laws, but not to the same 
extent as in the U.S. The Asian gangs that manufacture the ecstasy in 
B.C. also sneak in ingredients from offshore. RCMP say the ecstasy 
made in B.C. commonly contains methamphetamine.

The Americans acknowledge it's tough to keep tabs on marine 
smugglers, whether they mix in with the recreational boaters in the 
San Juan Islands or blast across the strait farther west. The 
Freshwater Bay boat launch, miles down a back road and out of sight 
of houses, is just one of the secluded spots along the Olympic 
Peninsula where the ubiquitous hockey bags can be unloaded. ("It's 
always hockey bags," says Cameron. "I could outfit the Canucks.")

"It's not difficult for a smuggler to smuggle by water," says 
Hoffman. "It's been with us since the days of Prohibition."
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