FIRM SAYS IT UNWITTINGLY HELPED WITH DRUG TUNNEL

Owner Says He Dealt With One Of Three Men Arrested In The Case

A Coquitlam excavating firm says it may have inadvertently helped the
men accused of digging a cross-border drug tunnel in Aldergrove.

Fortin's Excavating says last year it did several days' work cleaning
up garbage from tropical plant greenhouses on the site and levelling
out piles of soil at the rear of the property on Zero Avenue in Aldergrove.

"We were hired to clean up garbage on the site and load it into a
dumpster and haul to a landfill," said company owner Chris Fortin.

"Basically we hauled a couple of semi-loads of debris away and then we
did some levelling of soil. I would assume the soils we levelled off
were soils from that tunnel, although there's no way to be sure."

But the owners of the property were slow to pay for the work.

"That's why we liened the site," said Fortin. "Eventually we were paid
and we removed the lien, but it was like pulling teeth, I'll tell you
that much."

He wouldn't disclose how much he charged but the lien, placed on the
property in May 2004, was cancelled in November.

Fortin said he dealt with one of the three Surrey men now accused of
drug smuggling in the U.S.

The accused were arrested last month after authorities confiscated a
load of marijuana that was moved from the Aldergrove property through
the 110-metre tunnel to a home in Lynden, Wash.

The father and sister of the accused who owns the Aldergrove property
have sued to reclaim $113,000 in loans they say they made for a down
payment.

U.S. authorities are seeking to forfeit the Aldergrove property and
last week began sealing up their side of the tunnel.