U.S. - Canada Cross Border Smuggling Widespread
The Smugglers' Freeway Runs in Both Directions
From the use of day trippers known as "mules," who ostensibly cross the border to do some shopping, to high rollers, who take the greatest risks and reap the highest profits, smuggling has probably never been more profitable nor at the same time more challenging for law and order authorities.
Smuggling Rings Operate on Both Sides
The smuggler’s freeway runs both ways. Depending on supply and demand, some contraband goes south; different contraband is carried north. Detailed and timely information on contraband activity and apprehension at the U.S. border is available online.
One smuggling ring broken up by border agents in Washington State employed two dozen mules, all of whom walked through checkpoints several times weekly for months. Their shopping in Canada always included packages of methamphetamines.
Not everyone goes through the checkpoints. Some hump their loads across rugged bush and mountain trails. These hikes aren’t for city slickers. One smuggler made it from Canada to the U.S., lost his way, and ended up back in Canada where Canadian border agents rescued and arrested him.
Unfortunately, some mules are unwitting pawns. Recently a Canadian day tripper to Michigan discovered a miniature remote tracking device and traces of suspicious white powder under his car’s back bumper. Presumably as he went about his legitimate shopping, a smuggler attached the gadget and secreted the cocaine; then, after the shopper returned to Canada, he simply waited for an opportunity to recover the drugs.
The variety of contraband smuggled across the border in relatively small quantities is far more diverse than narcotics. In recent years it has included liquor, firearms and replica firearms, tobacco, and honeybees coming north; knock-off designer clothing and other goods, pharmaceuticals, lumber, cattle, hazardous waste, even used stolen furniture going south. In one case, an American used furniture retailer was stocking his four stores with furniture stolen by burglars in Canada.
High Rolling for High Profits
Akin to gambling, while the nickel players - that is, the mules - take the highest risk, they also jam the smuggler’s freeway for the least payoff. The high rollers in the business are far more likely to cash in for the big jackpots. For them, there are millions of dollars in play. Police authorities estimate that as many as 100,000 British Columbians are involved in some aspect of the province’s brisk marijuana industry. Marijuana is estimated to provide at least five percent of the province’s Gross Domestic Product.
The smugglers are on the land and water and in the air, the last using both planes and helicopters. They are also underground in spacious, well-ventilated tunnels. Auto body specialists are busily creating hidden compartments in cars and trucks, and cargo containers. Just as ingenious, others modify ceramic figurines and the corrugated cardboard dividers in cartons. Expert forgers prepare fraudulent documents.
MBA’s are enlisted to manipulate illegal money, and nerds to write software for computers. A California man was recently arrested for designing and selling cell phone encryption devices to smugglers. In another case, according to court documents, a major smuggler was so confident of his clandestine network’s ability to move large quantities of drugs, he guaranteed delivery.
Several high rolling drug smugglers did hit a losing streak in December, 2008. According to the CBC News of Dec. 27, 2008, as Canadian authorities seized 276 kilograms of in-bound cocaine, U.S. DEA authorities snagged another 100 kilograms in the Virgin Islands, both following the same route, orchestrated by the same high rollers.
Betting With The House
Innkeeper Bob Boule of Blaine, Washington has found a way to make a legitimate dollar from the smugglers. Not without reason, he calls his bed & breakfast establishment Smuggler’s Inn. The inn straddles the U.S. - Canada border, with the building in the U.S. and much of the backyard in Canada. Boule advertises a nightly spectacle -- smugglers skulking through his yard. He provides his guests night vision binoculars to keep them close to the action.
According to Boule, “In the last three years we’ve had 126 people arrested going one direction or the other through our yard. It could be drugs, it could be money.”
In February, 2008, footsore traveller Gurmit Singh Jassal showed up at the front desk and asked that the clerk call him a cab to the airport. Instead, U.S. Border Agents arrived to escort him to jail. Jassal was carrying $3.1 million of drugs in his luggage (Associated Press, Dec. 23, 2008). Apparently for some, when there’s no room at the inn, accommodation can be found elsewhere.
Freeway Traffic
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