SMUGGLING ON THE RISE IN B.C. INTERIOR

PENTICTON, British Columbia As U.S. authorities step up enforcement against
smuggling in the Vancouver area, smugglers will turn to smaller Interior
border crossings, officials warn.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced plans to add
seven more agents to the Pacific Highway border crossing, among other
measures designed to assist in combating drug and people smuggling.
Authorities on both sides of the border say the plugging up gaps in the
Vancouver area will drive smugglers into the less intensively patrolled
Interior.

"It's obvious that the pressure in the Vancouver area is pushing the drug
smuggling this way," said Richard Graham, officer in charge of the U.S.
Border Patrol's Oroville, Wash. office.

He said the number of arrests are up dramatically in the past year as
pressure has mounted in the Lower Mainland to slow the flow.

"We are seeing the increases over here already," Graham said. "A lot of the
people we are arresting are from Vancouver or have ties to the Vancouver
area."

Constable Pete Frizzell of the Border Enforcement Team in Chilliwack,
agreed. Over the past eight to 10 months, the team has increased
enforcement.

"It has forced some of the smuggling to the Interior part of the province,"
he said.

Since the team was started two years ago, it has chalked up an increasing
number of busts. Frizzell said the unit is averaging $1 million Canadian per
month worth of drug seizures.

But with British Columbia-grown marijuana in high demand in the U.S., that's
just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

There is now talk of expanding the unit eastward, he said.

That would be welcome by John Manderson of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
customs and excise unit in Kelowna.

Graham said he has asked for increased manpower as cross border traffic
increases.

"The more men I can put on the border, the more people I can catch," he
said.