FIRST OF FIVE BORDER SURVEILLANCE BASES IS OPENED IN BELLINGHAM

BELLINGHAM - As part of a dramatic boost in surveillance of the Canadian
border, federal customs and immigration officials on Friday dedicated the
first of five planned bases for regular flights to look for drug runners
and others crossing illegally.

The 69-person Bellingham Air Marine Branch will use helicopters, airplanes
and high-speed boats to patrol the border. Although similar bases have
policed the Mexican border for three decades, the new facility is the first
on the Canadian border.

Previously, customs and immigration service aircraft have patrolled the
border only sporadically, even though much of the border is in rugged and
largely empty country that presents little challenge to a determined smuggler.

The new bases, which will dot the border from Washington state to upstate
New York, are a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as ongoing
smuggling of illegal aliens and drugs, including B.C.'s potent strains of
marijuana.