RCMP SEIZES HELICOPTER

Aircraft Was Used In Cross-border Drug Trafficking Operation, Police
Say

A privately owned helicopter police say was used to traffic illegal
drugs over the U.S. border has been seized by the RCMP under the
provincial Civil Forfeiture Act.

Police officers from the Nelson Border Integrity Program, supported by
Kamloops RCMP air section and uniformed officers of the Kootenay
Boundary Regional Detachment of Nelson and New Denver, moved in on the
black Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter during an early morning
operation on Jan. 23.

The aircraft was found tucked into a remote corner on a large rural
property south of Silverton, B.C. It was lifted via a second
helicopter onto a flatbed truck and taken to an RCMP compound.

Investigators had a day earlier obtained an order for seizure from the
B.C. Supreme Court on the grounds the helicopter had been used for
criminal means.

According to police, the helicopter has been the subject of interest
since September 2007 following numerous investigations into drug
trafficking rings on both sides of the border.

"The RCMP is well aware of the use to which organized crime groups put
helicopters and small aircraft. We will continue to work in
partnership with domestic and U.S. law enforcement agencies to take
aggressive action to counter cross-border drug and firearms
trafficking," said Sgt. Dennis Blanch of the RCMP Federal Border
Integrity Program in a media release.

"Every time the RCMP can take away an aircraft from organized crime we
consider it another step in the right direction," Blanch said.