US COPPERS TO CANADA TO HELP STANCH CROSS BORDER CRIME

U.S. law enforcement agencies are placing agents and other officials
in Canada to fight drug smuggling and other crimes that cross the
border, Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said Wednesday.

Addressing the Cross-Border Crime Forum, a gathering of top law
enforcement officials from both countries, Ashcroft cited
U.S.-purchased weapons used in Canadian crime and the shipment from
Canada of legally available chemicals for making drugs such as Ecstasy
as major challenges along the 3,000-mile border.

``The increasing volume of law enforcement contact between our two
countries has led to calls in recent years for U.S. officers to be
posted in western Canada,'' Ashcroft said.

A legal attache from the Justice Department (news - web sites) is now
based in Vancouver, British Columbia, he said, and the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration plans to station an agent there. The U.S.
Marshals Service also intends to open a Canadian office, he said.

Canada's law enforcement network came under U.S. criticism after the
December 1999 arrest of Ahmed Ressam by U.S. border officials at Port
Angeles, Washington.

Ressam, an Algerian national under a deportation order in Canada, was
trying to enter the United States with bomb-making materials in the
trunk of his car. He was convicted of terrorism charges this year and
faces sentencing next month.

Emphasizing the cordial nature of the meeting, Ashcroft praised his
Canadian counterpart, Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay, and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police for their assistance in bringing Ressam
to justice.

``As a practical matter, neither of us can do the work of justice on
our border alone,'' he said. ``This is why this forum is such a
valuable tool.''

Ashcroft cited plans to bolster border law enforcement, including a
new Integrated Border Enforcement Team, known as I-BETS, to operate on
the Akwesasne Indian reservation near Massena, N.Y., and Cornwall,
Ont., a known hotspot for smuggling.

An initial I-BETS team deployed for 15 days along a 150-mile stretch
in 1997 made 32 arrests and seized drugs, weapons and other contraband
worth almost $1 million U.S., he said.

U.S. agencies including the Border Patrol, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, Customs Service, and New York police would
join Canadian police and local agencies on the new I-BETS unit,
Ashcroft said.

He praised a new Canadian law on combatting organized crime, saying it
would expand the use of undercover sting operations across the border.

``In the United States, we have found this type of undercover
operation to be extremely effective ... `` Ashcroft said. ``Its
application can have real benefits in efforts to combat
alien-smuggling and other areas of organized crime.''