DRUG RAID SEIZURE INCLUDES CESSNA PLANE

Canada, U.S. Forces Combine to Arrest 14 in Border-Patrol Operation

A joint Canadian-U.S. drug bust has resulted in the arrest of 14
people -- 10 in Canada and four in the U.S. -- and the seizure of
hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, guns, ammunition, cocaine,
marijuana, boats and a Cessna plane.

The bust was announced Tuesday at a press conference in Surrey. Many
of the items seized were on display to reporters, including two
vintage Second World War firearms, the likes of which Constable Alex
Borden of the RCMP Border Integrity Unit said he had never seen in 22
years of policing.

The investigation that led to the arrests and seizures took place over
most of this year, and involved officers working on both sides of the
border under the auspices of the RCMP Pacific Integrated Border
Enforcement Team, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Organized
Crime Agency of B.C., the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team,
the RCMP Proceeds of Crime section, and RCMP detachments in Coquitlam,
Maple Ridge and Mission.

The 10 individuals arrested Nov. 17 in Canada were not named because
charges against them are still pending, Borden said. They were all
released on their own recognizance.

But Borden said he was confident that once charges are approved -- he
didn't know when that would be -- it should be possible for police to
apprehend them.

"There are no guarantees in anything," he said. "If a person wants to
hide, he can hide.

"But we are confident that we will be able to apprehend
them."

Asked if police knew their current whereabouts, Borden said: "We are
continuing our investigation."

In the U.S., four people were arrested near Los Angeles, including one
Canadian, 37-year-old Walter Nichols of Maple Ridge. Roy Hoffman of
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Blaine office, said the
four were arrested under California state law and Nichols was still in
custody as of Tuesday.

One of the three Americans remains in custody and the other two have
been released on bail.

The investigation began in February of this year when police were
tipped off to the presence of a marijuana growing operation in a house
in Maple Ridge. That resulted in 1,800 marijuana plants being seized
and a further tip leading to the search of a residence in the B.C.
Interior, where $262,000 in cash, four loaded handguns and a stolen
boat were seized.

The rest of the guns, money and drugs and the aircraft were seized
from nine houses in Maple Ridge, Mission and Pitt Meadows and one
plane hangar. Borden refused to identify the addresses and said the
warrants used to search the premises had been sealed by police.

In addition to the aircraft, the items seized included:

- - Three stolen boats and trailers worth approximately
$300,000.

- - Five prohibited firearms, including two fully automatic sub-machine
guns.

- - Seventeen firearms, including revolvers, semi-automatic pistols,
shotguns and rifles.

- - Hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

- - More than 3,000 marijuana plants.

- - Replica "police" raid jackets.

The total value of the goods has still to be calculated, Borden said,
but he called it "a very significant seizure" and said some of the
weapons were "devastating" in their firepower.

However, he could not say exactly how the guns, boats and aeroplane
were used, saying only that police believe the 14 individuals arrested
know each other and work together.

"As far we know, they're associated, but we're trying to determine how
they're associated," he said.

The news conference was held so police could boast about the
effectiveness of their cross-border investigations.

"People seeing this in the media are going to realize that if they're
going to try to breach this border, they're going to get caught,"
Borden said.

It also marks the first time that the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration has been involved in an operation like this since it
opened a Canadian office in June.

The Pacific Immigration Border Enforcement Team (IBET) was set up in
part as a response to the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept.
11, 2001. However, while officials present at the news conference said
it is a "well-established fact" that many terrorist groups are
financed by drug operations, it is unlikely any potential terrorist
connections were involved in this bust.

"I'm sure it's a possibility," said U.S. DEA agent Ken Peterson, but
Superintendent Bill Ard, the officer in charge of IBET, said terrorism
had "pretty much been ruled out in this investigation."

However, he added: "In every case there's always the potential that
the criminal activity we're intercepting is actually being used to
finance terrorism."