DRUG SMUGGLERS ENLIST CANADIAN ARMY TRUCKS

SEATTLE (Reuters) -- U.S. border guards arrested seven people for allegedly
smuggling marijuana into Washington state from British Columbia using two
Canadian military vehicles, officials said yesterday.

Customs agents seized the vehicles Saturday at Blaine, Wash., after finding
five duffel bags filled with 100 kilograms of "B.C. Bud," a potent form of
marijuana that sells for more than $10,000 a kilogram in Seattle and
$16,000 a kilogram on the U.S. East Coast.

The two drivers, one of whom is a sergeant in the Canadian military
reserves, told U.S. Customs Service agents they had been sent to retrieve
another military truck that had broken down in nearby Ferndale, Wash.

Department of National Defence officials said yesterday they were working
with U.S. authorities in the investigation.

Border agents later arrested three more Canadians and two Americans. The
suspects, who were not identified, were to appear in a Seattle court yesterday.