CANADIAN CUSTOMS OFFICER SECOND TO CLAIM COERCION

Canadian customs officer Altaf Merali, in U.S. custody in Seattle after
being accused of crossing the border at Blaine with 100 kilos of marijuana
in his vehicle, is the second border guard in eight months to claim he was
coerced by criminals into betraying his position of trust.

Merali, 37, who faces the possibility of 40 years in jail and a $2-million
fine, told U.S. officials he did it because Indo-Canadian gangsters in
Surrey had threatened his family.

His claim echoes that of Cory Whitfield, 35, an eight-year veteran of the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency who was arrested Sept. 13, 2004,
when he tried to smuggle 243 kilos of marijuana across the border at
Aldergrove.

Whitfield, a Point Roberts resident with a wife and two children who worked
as an agent at Vancouver airport, claimed he was the "fall guy" in an
alleged trafficking scheme centred in Surrey and said that if he talked, he
would be a "dead man."

He identified his Surrey connection as a man named John, and said John and
another man used compromising photographs showing him in situations
involving drugs and a sexual encounter to force him to work for them.

SFU professor Douglas Ross, who teaches international security studies,
believes border staff are at risk of being pressured to cooperate with
criminals.

"Whether it's triads or Hells Angels or Indo-Canadian gangs or whoever,
they're all going to sooner or later hit on this idea, so there's got to be
some well-established and credible support for our border security
enforcement and immigration enforcement people," he said.

"As the border gets tighter and the volume of narcotics flowing into the
U.S. may be more and more constrained, the price is going to go up, and the
amount that is going to be dangled before Canadian personnel for bribes is
going to be going up and up too, and that's going to get real tough for a
lot of people to resist."

In Ottawa, Canadian Border Services Agency representative Helen Leslie said
CBSA employees operate under a code of conduct that requires them to report
to their supervisor any criminal approach.

Lower Mainland police said Thursday there is no current investigation into
Surrey criminals blackmailing border-services personnel to force them to
transport drugs to the U.S.

Const. Randall Wong, media-relations officer for B.C.'s integrated border
enforcement team, was skeptical of Merali's claim.

"I think it's one of those situations where it's easy to come up with an
excuse after you've been caught," Wong said.

"We have to allow the U.S. investigators to look at validating what he has
to say first of all -- what information he's going to offer, what he's
going to tell them.

"Then, if they request our assistance in looking into this, to either add
credibility to it or say, no, this isn't remotely credible at all, then and
only then, is probably when an investigation comes.

"We don't know of any specific group that is targeting border officers to
do this."

Emily Langlie, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's office in
Seattle, said Thursday the judge who imposed the mandatory five-year
minimum sentence on Whitfield felt the Gulf War veteran had "failed to
provide government investigators with all truthful information" about the
offence, although he did not specifically address the blackmail claim.