Commercial smuggling of marijuana is booming - U.S. border agents warn of more organized smugglers
By: David Hogben, Vancouver Sun, 02/02/04

U.S. border officials say they have experienced a phenomenal increase in the amount of marijuana being smuggled from B.C. into the U.S. with commercial vehicles.

The trend has become so pronounced that some 67 per cent of the marijuana found entering the U.S. at major B.C. land crossings now is in commercial vehicles.

It's the basic economic principles of risk and return on investment that are driving smugglers to use the cover and carrying capacity of commercial traffic to increase the payload of each shipment of contraband, said Mike Milne of the U.S. customs and border protection department.

"It's just profit; if you are going to take a risk or a chance at smuggling, it's go big or stay home," said Milne.

Five years ago, only two percent of seizures of marijuana at major B.C.-to-U.S. commercial vehicle crossings were from commercial vehicles. The total amount of marijuana seized in commercial vehicles represented less than one per cent seized at those five major land crossings.

But, according to statistics the department of U.S. customs and border protection compiled for The Vancouver Sun, commercial vehicles were involved in 7.4 per cent of the total marijuana border busts at major B.C. commercial crossings in fiscal 2003. The 5,243 kilograms of marijuana seized from commercial vehicles accounted for 67 per cent of the total 7,837 kilograms of marijuana seized at the major land crossings from B.C. into the U.S.

(U.S. customs and border protection compiled data on the B.C. commercial crossings at Blaine, Oroville and Sumas in Washington state, Eastport in Idaho, and Roosville in Montana.)

Rather than many couriers transporting marijuana across the border in personal vehicles, U.S. border agents now see more organized smugglers.

"You have more major, more sophisticated distribution networks involved," Milne said.

Paul Landry, chief executive officer of the B.C. Trucking Association, said a rule of thumb for B.C. trucking firms is: "You should know who is in care of your trailers and know who your customers are."

Landry said that carriers, unbeknownst to them, can be used by people who hire a company that ships an order including illegal drugs.

He said he is unaware of any of the 450 members of his association being involved in any drug smuggling, but has heard of suspicious activities by companies outside the association.

But he said it is relatively easy for people to obtain a truck, a licensed driver and start their own company.

"It's easier to become a trucking company than to open up a mobile hot dog stand in the Lower Mainland," he said of the many small, independent truckers.

Milne said a number of factors prompt smugglers to turn to commercial vehicles.

The couriers who carried or tossed bags of marijuana across the border while on foot are limited to about 60 kilos or less per trip. And the sophisticated camera system installed along the border in recent years has made those excursions relatively risky for the small payouts.

To combat the increased use of commercial vehicles for smuggling, Milne said customs and border patrol has improved information and intelligence gathering, with an emphasis on better sharing of information between agencies since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He said the U.S. has also doubled the staff of agents along its borders with Canada and Mexico.

To curb the use of commercial vehicles in particular, he said, customs and border patrol has increased the number of gamma-ray imaging systems that scan truck trailers at the border.

Milne said these mobile systems are moved from crossing to crossing so smugglers do not know when they might face such an examination of their cargo.

The gamma-ray imaging systems can provide a picture of the contents of the trailer without opening the trailer doors. In one case, the imaging devices showed a number of hockey bags full of marijuana stashed between the legitimate load of pallets of Canadian beer.

The RCMP notes in its most recent annual drug report that Canadian marijuana satisfies only a small portion of the U.S. demand.

"Canada ranks far below Mexico as a source for the U.S.," the national police agency noted in its Drug Situation in Canada -- 2002 report, released
last July.

U.S. customs seized 393,517 kilograms of Mexican marijuana entering the U.S., while the agency seized only 9,487 kilograms of Canadian marijuana entering the U.S. during 2002.

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U.S. BORDER PATROL CATCHES UP WITH SOUTHBOUND SMUGGLERS

Pot smuggling takes on a commercial flavour

- Four years ago, U.S. border guards seldom seized large amounts of marijuana from commercial vehicles.

- By last year the picture had changed dramatically, with more commercial vehicles stopped carrying large amounts of the illegal drug.