COMMERCIAL TRUCKERS OFTEN USED AS DRUG MULES

When B.C. trucker Lakhvir Singh Lally was arrested in Washington state last
May with between $500,000 and $2 million worth of ecstasy in his rig, he
did what most commercial drivers in his predicament do: He blamed his company.

It is often a successful defence, as customs officers on both sides of the
border say it is difficult to determine who is responsible for illegal
drugs smuggled aboard commercial trucks for cross-border transport.

Lally claimed he had no idea the 101,074 multi-coloured pills were in a
small cardboard box inside the engine compartment.

He told U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers that he was called to
work by the dispatcher at Pan-Am Trucking and went to a lumber yard in
Surrey to pick up his load on April 30.

He said he then returned the tractor-trailer to a Pan-Am yard because he
"had a toothache and was not going to be scheduled to make any deliveries."

The dispatcher called again the next day, he claimed, and said he was the
only driver available -- so he went to pick up the rig again for the trip
to California.

"Lally denied knowledge of the presence of the ecstasy," court documents in
the case state.

But he could not explain to suspicious U.S. officials exactly where he was
making his delivery south of the border.

"A seller of ecstasy, which has a wholesale value of at least $500,000 and
a retail value [of] up to $2 million would not entrust the shipment to
cross an international border unless the transporter was a person who was
known to the seller or was someone who could be trusted by the seller,"
senior special agent George Dolce stated in his documents.

"When informed it was highly unlikely that any narcotic-smuggling
organization would place such a large quantity of narcotics inside a
commercial tractor without knowledge of where or when it would be
delivered, Lally did not respond."

Harmanpreet Dhaliwal also tried to play dumb when he crossed the border in
a GMC cube van last month, claiming to be picking up electronic parts in
Everett, Wash., to be taken back to a Delta company.

A U.S. customs special agent noticed a discrepancy in the depth of the
vehicle's bed and ordered it inspected. Lizard, a detection dog, then
discovered more than 50 kilos of marijuana.

Dhaliwal later admitted he was supposed to deliver the marijuana to "a
white male."

"Dhaliwal further stated he has delivered between 10 and 15 marijuana loads
from Canada into the United States," court documents state. "Dhaliwal
further stated he was paid up to $10,000 Canadian currency for each delivery."

Both cases are proceeding.