ECSTASY SMUGGLING SURGES

PORT ANGELES - It was like an episode of Keystone Krooks, would have
been pretty funny were it not so serious. The four guys smuggling the
drugs from Canada had trouble pulling their boat ashore, saw their
truck and trailer slide into the water instead, so the U.S.
undercover cops who were watching them had to mosey over and help get
them unstuck.

Then the cops busted the smugglers -- the man who had piloted the
24-foot Maxum, plus the three other Vancouver men who were waiting
for him at the Freshwater Bay boat launch west of Port Angeles on
Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

What the American authorities found on board on Oct. 20 was a
massive, multimillion-dollar cargo of ecstasy -- evidence of a major
shift in the drug trade between B.C. and the U.S.

Long used to intercepting shipments of B.C. Bud marijuana, American
authorities say they are now finding more and more Ecstasy flowing
south into western Washington.

The change in the past couple of years has been dramatic, says Roy
Hoffman, assistant special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement at Blaine, Wash. "It's unprecedented."

Authorities say the drug, a stimulant, is being manufactured in the
Lower Mainland, where it is relatively easy to obtain ingredients
that are now hard to get in the U.S.

That's reflected in the stats: 56 kilograms of ecstasy seized
entering western Washington from Canada in 2004, climbing to 288 in
2005 and 415 in 2006. And that's just the amount found at the
official border crossings, doesn't even count the stuff slipping in
through the San Juan Islands or across Juan de Fuca Strait by boat.

They found just over 200 kilograms of Ecstasy aboard a boat named
Just Chillin' in October's Freshwater Bay bust, an estimated 750,000
to one million tablets -- some pink, some green -- wrapped in plastic
and crammed into five hockey bags and a suitcase. Authorities believe
the Ecstasy was boated from Vancouver and bound for Los Angeles and
Houston, where it might fetch $20 per pill on the street.

"It has really grown in the past three years," says Mike Milne, a
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Seattle. "We're
seizing less marijuana and more Ecstasy."

It's easy to see why. By weight, ecstasy is worth more than B.C. Bud
and is easier to hide. In Port Angeles, a pound of B.C. Bud
wholesales for $2,500 US to $3,500 US, says Capt. Ron Cameron of the
Clallam County Sheriff's office. The price rises as it goes south,
hitting maybe $5,000 in Los Angeles. ("It picks up a dollar a mile
going down the I-5," says Cameron.)

Ecstasy can be manufactured for just 80 cents to $2 a pill, and sell
for much more than that. "The lowest I've ever seen it in bulk is $5
a pill," says Cameron. "It goes on the street for $20 to $25."

Cameron, the son of Victoria-raised parents, heads the Olympic
Peninsula's multi-agency Narcotics Enforcement Team. His area saw a
surge in smuggling activity in 2004, when authorities prosecuted a
dozen dope-by-boat cases, arrested more than 20 people and seized
close to two tonnes of marijuana.

It's quieted down a bit since then, the smugglers perhaps favouring
commercial trucks crossing from the Lower Mainland over fast boats
from Vancouver Island. Clallam County cops still find evidence of
continued smuggling -- a stray bag of dope floating in the chuck,
large quantities of money stashed in the woods -- but not on the same
scale as a couple of years ago.

The ecstasy bust threw everyone for a loop, Cameron said. "We've
never seen that before here."

They may see more, though, because it's now easier to find the
ingredients to make crystal meth and Ecstasy in Canada than in
Washington. The so-called precursors are strictly controlled in the
U.S. It's harder to buy Sudafed or other cold medication including
pseudoephedrine, a key meth ingredient. "You can't go to a Wal-Mart
or a local pharmacy without signing for it anymore," says Cameron.
Ditto for red phosphorus.

Canada has also tightened its precursor laws, but not to the same
extent as in the U.S. The Asian gangs that manufacture the ecstasy in
B.C. also sneak in ingredients from offshore. RCMP say the ecstasy
made in B.C. commonly contains methamphetamine.

The Americans acknowledge it's tough to keep tabs on marine
smugglers, whether they mix in with the recreational boaters in the
San Juan Islands or blast across the strait farther west. The
Freshwater Bay boat launch, miles down a back road and out of sight
of houses, is just one of the secluded spots along the Olympic
Peninsula where the ubiquitous hockey bags can be unloaded. ("It's
always hockey bags," says Cameron. "I could outfit the Canucks.")

"It's not difficult for a smuggler to smuggle by water," says
Hoffman. "It's been with us since the days of Prohibition."