DRUG TRAFFICKERS FIND HAVEN IN WILDS OF NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK

Park Rangers Track Smugglers Who Cross From Canada By Foot, Boat And
Helicopter

Sunday, February 4, 2001

By Michael Milstein of The Oregonian staff

Hikers, bears and even wolves depend on rugged and remote North Cascades
National Park as a refuge from the rest of the bustling Northwest. So do
drug smugglers.

A series of cocaine and marijuana seizures and arrests in recent months
shut down a multimillion-dollar drug pipeline between Canada and the
Northwest, exposed when trail crews and rangers spotted helicopters last
summer whizzing across the border through the park's wilderness and its
glacier-lined valleys.

"Some of the early reports came from a fire lookout who said, 'This
helicopter is flying below me, coming up the valley below the lookout,' "
said Pete Cowan, chief ranger at the national park east of Seattle.

Later surveillance by rangers, who more typically patrol for poachers,
spotted helicopters flying from Canada several times each week through
corridors such as the Chilliwack River, lined by jagged 5,000-foot peaks,
avoiding radar detection.

In the United States, the helicopters landed outside the park, picking up
guns, cocaine and cash and dropping off loads of potent "B.C. Bud"
marijuana to others on the ground who then distributed it throughout the
region. The marijuana is worth as much as $6,000 a pound on the street.

"They stage it here and then bring it to places like Oregon," said Rodney
Tureaud, U.S. Customs special agent in charge in Seattle. "The farther from
the border they go, the more money there is to be made."

Helicopters that missed their dropoff rendezvous sometimes landed in the
park and cached their loads on rocky, otherwise-inaccessible peaks before
returning to Canada, park district ranger Hugh Dougher said.

In an investigation that came to involve U.S. and Canadian customs and
anti-organized crime agencies, authorities on both sides of the border
seized three kilograms of cocaine, almost 1,000 pounds of marijuana worth
around $5 million, a house in Canada, two Mercedes-Benz cars, more than
$500,000 in U.S. currency, $100,000 in Canadian funds and a $500,000
helicopter.

So many agencies took part in the 18-month investigation that reports of
arrests in the case have ranged from four to 14.

Seizures and arrests are not unusual in the nation's drug battle. These,
however, suggest that drug smugglers have found an untapped value in public
parks long eyed by imaginative profiteers, like the one who decades ago
wanted to build an aerial tramway up Mount Rainier.

"This is an example of a smart and successful smuggling organization that
is looking for a weak point," Dougher said. "It's an insult that
professional criminals are using national parks for profit this way."

The international smuggling syndicate used the 505,000-acre wilderness
park, which has virtually no roads, for much the same reason that many
others do: Its lonely landscape offers an escape from the confines of
civilization. The park has only three full-time rangers, although the force
grows to about 12 during the summer. Most patrol the park on foot and
horseback.

"We're there to protect the resources and the people who visit the parks.
That's our main purpose," Cowan said.

As U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol have cracked down on drug smuggling
along more developed sections of the northern U.S. border, smugglers have
probed the 30 mountainous miles that separate North Cascades National Park
from provincial parks in Canada. In the past year, park rangers have
tracked more and more smugglers hauling drugs by foot, snowmobile,
cross-country skis, speedboats and kayaks, probably hoping to blend in with
recreational visitors.

"Trafficking along the border follows the path of least resistance, and we
have to make sure this part of the border is more resistant than it has
been," said Bill Paleck, North Cascades superintendent.

That sets up a delicate balancing act for park officials who want to help
protect the nation from the international drug trade but must also
safeguard the spectacular solitude that sets national parks apart. The
wilderness protections that blanket the park prohibit motorized vehicles,
including helicopters. That not only makes it illegal for drug traffickers
to use them, but also discourages authorities from doing the same.

"I don't think the framers of the Wilderness Act imagined we would be
dealing with activities of this magnitude," Paleck said.

You can reach Michael Milstein at 503-294-7689 or by e-mail at
michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com.