DRUG SMUGGLERS TARGETED

More than 80 per cent of cocaine stopped at Canada's commercial ports
is seized at the Pacific Highway crossing, said Canadian Border
Services Agency chief Jan Brock Thursday, during a visit from Liberal
senator Colin Kenny.

"Overall, it's a small dent, but we've had great success since 2004,"
Brock said.

"Our officers are very well trained, and we worked very well with
intelligence officers and U.S. border (agents)."

Kenny, from Ontario and chair of the Senate Standing committee on
National Security, was on the Peninsula as part of a three-day tour of
Lower Mainland border crossings and points of entry. The tour also
included stops at the Vancouver International Airport and Port Metro
Vancouver.

While at Pacific Highway, Kenny and a number of CBSA officers gave
visitors a close-up look at how border officers detect hidden
compartments in vehicles, which are used by criminals to smuggle
contraband - mostly cocaine - into the country.

A tractor trailer with a false compartment along the back wall of the
truck's cab, was on display at the port. It was seized last December,
after 121 kilograms of cocaine and $22,000 cash was discovered hidden
inside.

"Something just didn't look right to our officers, and that's what we
ask them to think about all the time. What doesn't look right here?
What doesn't fit?" Brock said.

"It's our goal, our mandate, to make sure that's what our officers are
focused on doing, and in this case, we found a switch that triggered
the false compartment."

Brock said most of the drugs they intercept are gang-related, and
often it's the individual driver - not the trucking company - who is
responsible.

False compartments are becoming increasingly popular among smugglers,
she added, and they're also getting more sophisticated.

"They're getting more and more complicated, to the point now that some
are operated by a fob, or even a cellphone," she said.

"But then there are some (seizures), where it's just a duffel bag
thrown on the back seat."

Brock estimated that seven or eight large seizures are made at the
Pacific Highway border each year - there have been four so far in 2009
- - but that number could be even higher with the right equipment.

Currently, Lower Mainland ports and border crossings share a mobile
vehicle X-ray machine - called a VACIS - but Brock hoped each entry
point would soon have their own permanent units. That would prevent
smugglers from dodging the X-ray machine depending on its location,
she said.

"We're pretty good at it, but I think we can be even more effective -
there's always room to improve," she said.

"That's one of the things we'll talk to the senator about."