U.S. CRACK DOWN ON MARIJUANA SMUGGLERS

Civil Rights Groups Challenge That Patriot Act Is Being Misused

U.S. authorities in Washington state are using the U.S. Patriot Act
anti-terror law for the first time to prosecute alleged marijuana
smugglers, including several B.C. suspects, who were caught in a major
undercover operation involving nearly $3 million US in drug money.

A total of 24 people, including at least nine Canadians from the Lower
Mainland, have been indicted in three related cases in which an
undercover agent at times acted as a courier for people who wanted to
smuggle drug proceeds back to B.C., according to indictments filed in
the U.S. District Court in Seattle.

U.S. Customs, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the RCMP in Canada
co-operated on a year-long undercover investigation to break up a drug
smuggling ring that was transporting hundreds of kilos of B.C.-grown
marijuana to the United States, and repatriating drug proceeds back to
the Lower Mainland.

While such undercover operations are not unheard of, this case is
unusual because the U.S. District Attorney's office resorted to using
a provision in the U.S. Patriot Act in charging people with conspiracy
to engage in bulk cash smuggling.

The act was swiftly brought in after the September 11, 2001 terror
attacks as a way of combatting the organizing and funding of
terrorists. It gives government agencies extraordinary and sweeping
powers to investigate and prosecute people.

But civil rights organizations have complained that the law is poorly
drawn up and gives the government too much power, including the right
to conduct secret searches, wider surveillance and access to sensitive
personal records.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is attempting to have the
law amended, said it threatens many basic constitutional rights and
warns the act could be perverted for uses not originally contemplated.
It argues the law gives law enforcement agencies the right to surveil
and detain people, and not have to report it.

Todd Greenberg, one of two Assistant U.S. Attorneys leading the case,
said the Act was used in this case because it allows the government to
seize and order the forfeiture of proceeds of crime. While laws are on
the books making it illegal to import and export large amounts of
money without reporting it, the Patriot Act puts new teeth into the
legislation, he said.

"What the Patriot Act allows us to do is get a personal money judgment
against the folks whose money it was, so we can collect on a court
judgment without having the money," he said.

He said there is no evidence to suggest those indicted were involved
in terrorist activities, and the case involves criminal drug dealing
and money-smuggling. But he said the Patriot Act isn't just for
anti-terror activities. "The Patriot Act is not really confined to
terrorist activity. This is a general criminal statute that can be
used to investigate and prosecute terrorism and it could be used to
investigate more traditional types of organized crime."

But Doug Honig, a spokesman for the Washington branch of the ACLU,
said the case demonstrates the argument civil rights groups raise that
the Patriot Act is too broadly defined.

"The ACLU and other critics have said ever since that regardless of
what the government was saying, if you looked at how the law was
written, it can be used in many situations that don't involve
terrorism," he said. "This case illustrated that point."

The case began about a year ago when agents for the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the DEA began to investigate a
drug-smuggling ring from Canada. They enlisted the help of the RCMP,
which on Thursday declined to comment other than to say that it is
continuing to investigate the case on this side of the border.

The indictments indicate the investigators intercepted cellular
telephone conversations, and in one case used the information to
intercept a shipment of 120 kilograms of marijuana that had just been
brought in to Seattle from B.C.

One aspect of the case was that over a period of time the U.S.
undercover officer delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug
proceeds back to unidicted co-conspirators in B.C. In each case the
undercover agent was paid a "smuggling fee". There is no indication
about how the RCMP acted on the information they gleaned from the
undercover operation, or if they intercepted the smuggled money.

"All I can say is that the case is still under investigation," said
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Catherine Galliford.

The indictments, which were handed down last week, allege that
Canadians were a key component of the smuggling operation, and that
the money was handed to people at a variety of locations in
Cloverdale, Surrey, Richmond and Vancouver.

In some cases, the smugglers used the undercover agent to get the
money into Canada. In other cases, they tried to carry the money
themselves. In one case, Greenberg said in the indictments, two
Canadians identified as Richard Hoffman and Georgina Margaret Diamond
were caught last January at the Blaine border trying to smuggle
$149,360 US in cash in Diamond's nylon stockings.

The indictment indicated Hoffman had been previously caught in June
1996 trying to smuggle nearly $246,000 US in through the border at
Blaine.

In another case, the indictments indicate Loc Xuan Ho tried to smuggle
in $47,862 concealed on the bodies of his wife, niece and nephew. The
indictment doesn't indicate Ho's country of residence.

In addition to Hoffman and Diamond, the three indictments identify at
least seven other accused as Canadian residents; Tony Minh Lam, Quang
Ngoc Ngo, Hung Phi Hoang, Joseph Nguyen, Thuy Ngoc Pham, Coung Tu Bong
Nguyen and Van De Nguyen.