HOTLINE TARGETS CROSS-BORDER SMUGGLING IN TRUCKING INDUSTRY

A new hotline launched by the RCMP's border integrity team is aiming
to combat cross-border drug smuggling, while maintaining the
integrity of the trucking industry.

The new 1-800 number, which will operate similar to Crime Stoppers --
the caller's anonymity will be protected at all times -- will allow
anyone, including the truckers, to report suspicious activity or a
known smuggling operation.

"We want the trucking industry to help us identify the people who are
victimizing individual truckers by offering them money to do the
dirty work for them," said Superintendent Bill Ard, officer in charge
of border integrity, of the organized crime groups that orchestrate
the operations.

The truckers are often convinced by organized crime groups to smuggle
contraband -- most commonly marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and guns --
for large sums of money and promises that they will not get caught.

However, Massie said many of them never receive the cash and more and
more truckers are getting caught, as border services agents' training
and knowledge of these operations improve.

The customs agents can easily identify the hidden compartments that
are created to bring the drugs across the Canada/U.S. border, said Massie.

"They are no longer a secret," he said.

A Surrey truck driver learned that lesson in July 2005, when a border
patrol dog named Shad sniffed out a drugs in an electronic overhead
compartment of a tractor-trailer that was heading south through the
Osoyoos border crossing -- one of the busiest in the province. Inside
the compartment was 192 vacuum-sealed bags containing more than 100
kilograms of marijuana worth about $2 million.

The driver was arrested and charged with unlawfully exporting drugs
and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

That bust accounted for almost a third of the total kilograms of
drugs seized at B.C. border crossing in 2005.

In the Okanagan and Kootenay region alone that year there were 206
drug seizures and 117 weapons seizures, up from 196 drug seizures and
28 weapons seizures in 2004.

Truck drivers who are convicted of smuggling contraband across the
border can receive sentences of 10 years or longer, said Massie,
adding that it not only results in a criminal record, but a loss of
wages for the driver and often has a detrimental impact on the driver's family.

The Canada Border Services Agency said that, as a member of the
Integrated Border Enforcement Team, it welcomes the creation of the hotline.

"Our goals are the same," said CBSA spokesperson Paula Shore.

Shore said the CBSA works with the RCMP, U.S. border agents and
American law enforcement to ensure the border is protected. That
collaboration has continually improved since 9/11, she said.

Currently anyone who crosses the border must speak with a CBSA agent.
But the agency has several methods of detecting goods before they get
to the province's crossings, including advanced passenger
information, advance commercial information, the container security
initiative, migration integrity officers, risk assessment systems and
networks and pre-screening programs, such as NEXUS and FAST.

Once they arrive at the border, there are several high-tech systems
that can be used to monitor and detect goods crossing the line,
including radiation, gamma-rays, X-ray systems and increased officer training.

New systems and strategies are always being developed, she explained,
pointing to the electronic-manifest initiative for commercial
carriers that was announced by Okanagan-Coquihalla MP and federal
minister of public safety Stockwell Day last week.

The hotline will just be another information gathering and sharing
tool, she said.

The RCMP are also hoping the hotline will protect the reputation of
the $51 billion trucking industry, which employs more than 260,000
drivers nation-wide and accounts for the transportation of 90 per
cent of all consumer products inside the country and two-thirds
between the neighbouring nations.

Anyone wishing to anonymously report any suspicious cross-border
activity, whether or not it relates to the commercial trucking
industry, can call 1-888-598-4602 .