BUMPER YEAR FOR POT BUSTS AT U.S. BORDER CROSSINGS

It's shaping up as a bumper year for pot busts at the border.

The amount of pot seized is up 82 per cent from last year -- from 1,020 to
1,859 kilograms confiscated between October and May, according to U.S.
border patrol figures.

If the trend continues, western Washington state customs agents will seize
more dope than ever before, spokesman Joseph Giuliano said yesterday.

The higher numbers reflect a crackdown on smugglers, he said.

"I feel like I finally have the resources to address the problem
adequately," he said. "I'm feeling really good about it."

Giuliano credited post-9/11 funding and technology for the crackdown.

The Blaine sector patrol encompasses 196 kilometres of western U.S.-B.C.
border, including the Peace Arch, Pacific Highway, Lynden and Sumas
crossings. It also covers all of Alaska, Oregon and Puget Sound.

In the year to last September, the Blaine border patrol seized 1,684 kg of
weed.

This year, said Giuliano, "we should be somewhere near 5,000 to 6,000
pounds (2,250 to 2,700 kg)."

Ten years ago, the Blaine border patrol seized 11 kgs of pot.

Giuliano said one rising trend is for Canadians to ferry marijuana across
the Juan de Fuca Strait on small boats.

Michael J. Seabrook of Coquitlam allegedly did just that on May 27. He was
arrested near Joyce, Wash., 25 kilometres west of Port Angeles, after
allegedly smuggling pot worth $4.5 million US. Seabrook, 24, will have a
detention hearing in Tacoma this week.

On Friday, U.S. agents at Joyce arrested two Burnaby men, aged 39 and 40,
for allegedly smuggling 175 kg of pot worth $1.5 million US.

Agents also seized $62,000 US worth of marijuana at the border in Lynden on
Friday.