CAMERAS USED TO BATTLE DRUG SMUGGLING ACROSS BORDER

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- A sophisticated camera system set up at the U.S.-Canada
border at Blaine is the latest aid in the war on drug-smuggling.

A 25-mile stretch of the border from Blaine to the foothills of the Cascade
Mountains will be monitored by the new system, Doris Meissner, U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Services commissioner said Thursday. The
system will be used to combat the smuggling of drugs and aliens in both
directions across the border.

Meissner made the announcement at the Pacific Highway border crossing,
which she said also will receive seven more agents to combat illegal
trafficking.

The high-grade B.C. marijuana that is shipped south to the United States is
one reason for the surveillance system, she said.

The system -- an improved version of that used along the U.S.-Mexico border
- -- is expected to be in place within a year, said Eugene Davis, U.S. border
patrol deputy chief.

Much of the Canada-U.S. border where the system will be used is already
monitored with motion or pressure sensors, but these often trigger false
alarms when they are tripped by animals.

Dispatching border agents to verify such alarms can strain resources, Davis
said, adding that the cameras -- which may have night vision -- will enable
agents to see what is moving across the sensors.

In more accessible areas, the cameras will be linked by fiber optics;
otherwise they will be linked to border patrol headquarters by microwave
transmitters.