HOW SMUGGLERS MISS THE HIDDEN EYES ON OUR UNDEFENDED BORDER

Arrests of five men last month shows that ease of access into the
U.S. can be an illusion Robert Matas - From Saturday's Globe and Mail

The international boundary line here is open and unmarked, an easy
walk for any smuggler.

A narrow strip of grass about 225 metres wide weaves between patches
of farmland and evergreen forests, 15 kilometres east of the
Canada-U.S. border crossing at Huntingdon, B.C., and Sumas, Wash. A
few tired fences keep the cows from wandering too far from home, but
nothing really blocks people who want to try their luck at crossing the line.

And try they do, here on Silver Lake Road and farther east, where
five men were arrested last month, turning a spotlight on B.C.'s open
border with Washington and the well-worn trails that smugglers use.

But the ease of access is an illusion.

To reach the other side, smugglers have to dodge high-tech motion
sensors, cameras on tall metal sticks with even taller antennae,
helicopter surveillance and border-patrol officers who sit in SUVs
hidden behind farm sheds and in the trees, just waiting to pounce.

Ten kilometres further east, the border is considerably more
difficult for authorities to monitor. Mother Nature may pose the
biggest hurdles.

The boundary line cuts through the heavily forested Cascade Mountain
Range. The little-known Liumchen Ecological Reserve is north of the
border; Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, with peaks that wear
their snow until mid-July, is on the south. A trail winds through
mountainous slopes of Douglas fir, hemlock and red cedar. At this
time of year, hungry black bears are emerging from hibernation;
cougars and possibly mountain goats could be in the area.

Despite its dangers, smugglers take their chances: The trail is known
to locals as Smugglers Point.

But even here, free access is not guaranteed. This is where the U.S.
border patrol found snowshoe tracks on April 26 that led to the
arrest of five men on charges related to smuggling 60.5 kilograms of
marijuana across the border.

Those arrested included Canadian advertising executive Chris Neary, a
former Telus marketing director responsible for a $30-million budget;
Daryl Fontana, owner of a fitness centre in Duncan, B.C.; Sinisa
Gavric, a Bosnian with permanent-resident status in Canada; B.C.
resident Richard Bafaro who has both Canadian and U.S. citizenships;
and Canadian Carl Thiessen.

Authorities say they found four backpacks with 111 heat-sealed
plastic bags of marijuana. The five men have all pleaded not guilty.
A jury trial has been set for July 6.

U.S. authorities say trails to smuggle contraband and illegal aliens
between Canada and the U.S. are well known. Statistics were not
available this week on the number of people caught smuggling on
trails between B.C. and Washington. But Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman
for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, said most of the office's
work in court seems to be related to smuggling across the border.

"There is no huge wall, there is no fence," RCMP Sergeant Doug Pound,
spokesman for the federal border-integrity program, said in an interview.

Many people use wilderness trails for hiking, biking and camping and
may cross the border unaware or unconcerned about what they are
doing, he said. Others have criminal intentions. "It is a recognized
and understood method of transporting drugs across the border," he said.

Authorities recognize that they stop only a fraction of those intent
on smuggling drugs across the border, he said, adding that no one
knows how much goes through.

"By having the largest undefended land borders in the world, Canada
must accept that it cannot 100 per cent control every person that
tries to cross that border," Sgt. Pound said. "We cannot have a long
line of RCMP members standing hand in hand along the border. We just
do not have enough people to do that. For us, the goal is to maximize
what we can do with the people we have."

Authorities say the U.S. Border Patrol regularly arrests smugglers on
the route used by the five men arrested a few weeks ago. But they
catch considerably more people crossing in more accessible spots,
such as the Silver Lake Road area or the vicinity of the farmlands
adjacent to the Sumas/Huntingdon crossing.

Those arrested in late April have not spoken publicly about the exact
route they took or their experience of snowshoeing at night through
the mountains. Law-enforcement officers recounted some details in
court documents filed with the U.S. District Court in the Western
District of Washington at Seattle.

Mr. Neary and Mr. Fontana were arrested "hiding in the woods" near
the snowline of an old forest logging road, a court document says.
The isolated single-lane road - a series of nausea-inducing
switchbacks climbing up through the mountains - stretches about 20
kilometres north, from the Mount Baker highway that runs across
northwestern Washington state. Three weeks after the arrests, the
snowline was about six kilometres from the Canada-U.S. border.

The court documents indicate the expedition began at a lower
altitude. Mr. Neary allegedly started out from his Vancouver home
early Sunday evening, April 25. Mr. Gavric was picked up around 9
p.m. near the intersection of Commercial and Broadway in East Vancouver.

Mr. Thiessen was the driver, the documents say. He took the hikers to
the Cultus Lake area east of Vancouver, about a 90-minute drive from
where Mr. Gavric was picked up, and dropped them near the border, the
documents state.

Smugglers at the southern tip of Cultus Lake have a choice of trails.
They can go west, to the farmlands near the Huntingdon/Sumas border
or to the road that runs across the border from Silver Lake Road. Or
they can go east, into the untamed wilderness of the ecological
reserve, and head toward the Canyon Creek area.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the integrated
border enforcement team in Blaine, Wash., say the hikers went east.
The U.S. agents spotted snowshoe tracks at the border at 11 a.m.,
around 12 hours after the hikers had been dropped off. Federal agents
found Mr. Neary, Mr. Fontana and Mr. Gavric in the snow three hours
later. They followed tracks in the snow to find backpacks with
marijuana, they say.

Mr. Thiessen drove up the road and was taken into custody by
border-patrol agents. Mr. Bafaro was arrested when he came to a hotel
in nearby Bellingham, Wash., that was under surveillance.