AERIAL DRUG SMUGGLERS BELIEVED TO BE 'WIPED OUT'

Canadian and U.S. authorities have grounded a massive aerial smuggling
operation and taken a major dent out of the cross-border drug trade,
says an industry insider.

RCMP and American immigration officials announced last week they made
46 arrests in connection with crime networks that used helicopters to
transport marijuana and cocaine across the B.C.-Washington border.
According to a source with inside knowledge of the industry,
authorities have dismantled all aerial smuggling groups in the province.

"There weren't that many to begin with, and they're all gone now,"
said the source, who requested anonymity. "I'd say they've been wiped
out. That will have an effect on B.C.'s economy because less pot will
go south."

The joint investigation, called Frozen Timber, started in late 2004
and culminated with the arrests of 40 people in the United States and
six in Canada. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) seized nearly four tonnes of marijuana, 360 kilograms of
cocaine, three aircraft and $1.5 million in U.S. currency.

RCMP and ICE officials concentrated on vast wilderness areas in
Washington, where they videotaped helicopters as they unloaded their
contraband on pre-arranged drop sites near Mt. Baker, in North
Cascades National Park and in the Okanogan National Forest southwest
of Osoyoos.

Police gathered intelligence that pointed to "lots of customers," said
RCMP Insp. Dan Malo, who oversaw the Canadian part of the
investigation.

Officers learned organized-crime groups were using unlicensed,
inexperienced pilots who were largely self-taught, he said. Crime
groups had bought helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft at
"significantly reduced prices" because they were old and needed servicing.

"The pilots were acting as brokers to facilitate movement of illegal
contraband back and forth," Malo said in an interview. "We've
attributed to organized crime two aircraft crashes that resulted in
the deaths of three people in B.C. . . . over the last 13 months."

Considering the loads some of the helicopters were carrying, it's
astonishing they could even fly, said the industry insider, whom we'll
call Sean. He can't imagine how a licensed pilot could do it, let
alone an inexperienced one without a licence.

"It's amazing they weren't all killed," he said.

"These guys found the stupidest, cheapest guys they could who could
barely take off in a helicopter and land it," Sean said. "It's all
coming home to roost now."

RCMP allege the Breakwater Restaurant in Harrison Hot Springs was the
focal point of a smuggling network that used a helicopter to transport
drugs into Washington. Restaurant owner Daryl Gilles Desjardins, 44,
and Dustin Melvin Haugen, 24, were arrested after a Bell Jet Ranger
helicopter completed a run across the line and landed in the Harrison
Lake area on May 9.

Police tracked the helicopter to a landing site in a state wildlife
area in Okanogan County. After watching the cargo being transferred to
a waiting pickup, agents stopped the vehicle, arrested two men inside
and recovered 148 kilograms of marijuana. When the helicopter arrived
back in B.C., the RCMP arrested the two alleged pilots, Desjardins and
Haugen.

Both men are charged with importing a controlled substance and
trafficking. Desjardins is also charged with possessing at least eight
firearms.

Smugglers continue to cross the border at ports of entry with
contraband in vehicles, trucks and containers, Malo said. They
recently tried to run pot across the border after digging an elaborate
tunnel in Langley.

Malo said organized-crime groups were behind the aerial smuggling. He
wouldn't deny the Hells Angels are among them. They cross all parts of
the border, including the section between Osoyoos and Midway. They
usually transport marijuana south and bring cocaine, cash and firearms
north, Malo said.

"We've had a significant impact on the criminal groups identified. I
expect (activity) to diminish. We've been successful in dismantling
several of these air smuggling groups," Malo said.

Many of the 46 people charged are not "organized-crime types," such as
bikers or members of the Mafia, said Sean. They may be criminals and
organized, but, from what he's heard, they're "appallingly
disorganized."

In fact, most pot growers and distributors in the Interior are not
criminal or violent, he said. They prefer remote areas where they can
build hidden bunkers or outdoor structures where they grow marijuana
with 50 to 200 lights. Each light nurtures up to a kilogram of salable
bud. Kelowna, however, is much more "hyperactive," he said.

"There's much more of a criminal element -- gunslingers and bikers,
although bikers are a small part of pot growing in B.C.," he said.

Sean estimates almost two-thirds of B.C. bud is grown outside the
Lower Mainland. One knowledgeable insider told him in early 2005 that
about 4,500 kilograms of pot was leaving the Lower Mainland for the
U.S. by truck every week; another 2,700 pounds a week were airlifted
across the line.

Smugglers in the Kootenays, where there's little organized crime,
simply fill their backpacks with 14 to 18 kilograms of bud and walk
across the border, Sean said. Each pound of top-grade pot can fetch
about $2,300 US. In Los Angeles, that pound sells for $3,200 US, he
said.

Some use the proceeds to buy cocaine and bring it back so they don't
have to launder U.S. cash in Canada, Sean said. Before the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks in 2001, as many as 1,500 people were ferrying drugs
across the B.C. border. Paranoia about heightened security since then
has brought the number of smugglers down to about 50 individuals or
groups, he said.

"Air smuggling accounted for 40 per cent of pot smuggling from B.C. in
2005. Now, with these arrests, it's down to two per cent."