DRUG LORDS RECRUIT DESPERATE PEOPLE

Hard Times Drive More To Crime, Easy Money

All Sukhvinder Shoker had to do was drive his mover's truck across the
Washington-B. C. border a few times and the $42,000 he owed would be
forgotten.

Desperate for cash in the midst of a recession, it was an offer the
owner of the Surrey-based Careful Movers and Delivery Services found
hard to refuse.

After a dry run the month before to test out the truck's newly
installed hidden wall, the Surrey man headed to California for the
real thing.

It would be Shoker's first and last trip as a drug
mule.

His arrest by U.S. border agents last October for trying to smuggle 76
kilograms of cocaine into Canada through the Pacific Highway crossing
earmarks yet another dark chapter in B.C.'s high-risk drug game.

Unlike 10 years ago, U.S. authorities say drug groups now recruit
almost exclusively the cash-strapped, under-employed and naive for the
risky border crossings that often end in a U.S. jail cell.

Down on their luck and surrounded by walls of debt, these otherwise
law-abiding citizens are easily lured into the shady world of
trafficking by the promise of making quick and easy cash.

It's a strategy that's been made easier by the economic downturn,
which has handed crime groups an even larger pool of disposable
volunteers willing to gamble their freedom for a big payout.

The trend has not gone unnoticed in the province's $6-billion drug
trade, where mules are predominantly used to ferry B.C. bud into the
U.S. in exchange for cocaine, cash and weapons.

The arrests last month in Washington state of three prominent B.C.
residents attached to an alleged five-person, pot-smuggling ring
offers a classic example of just how willing the desperate have become.

Following his arrest, Chris Neary, a star in Vancouver's marketing
world and one-time marketing director for Telus, told authorities he
was broke and needed the money. He was to be paid an estimated $10,000.

Daryl Fontana, a married father of three who runs a fitness centre in
Duncan, also told U.S. authorities on arrest that his deteriorating
financial situation had led him to the forested trails along the
Washington-B. C. border.

Likewise, the man alleged to be in charge of the five-person
operation, Rick Bafaro, 45, who used to co-own a pair of trendy
Yaletown stores with his ex-wife, told U.S. drug cops he was in dire
need of some cash.

"Desperate people sometimes do desperate things," Fontana told U.S.
authorities following his arrest. "I know I made a mistake and I
should pay for that mistake."

Neary, Fontana and one of the other men, Carl Thiessen, also of
Vancouver, have been released. Bafaro and Vancouver resident Sinisa
Gavric remain in custody in the U.S. A trial date has been set for
July 6.

All five have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to import,
conspiracy to distribute and possession of marijuana with the intent
to distribute. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in
jail.

Doug Whalley, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Seattle, said drug
mules are often incorrectly told they will simply be deported if
caught. They are also walled off from any real knowledge of the operation.

He said recruitment is often through friends and family members, with
the actual mule having no contact with the group they are working for.
The runs are pitched as low-risk and straightforward.

"They tend to be people that aren't involved with crime and drugs,"
said Whalley. "And it is often because they need the money. They are
down on their luck."

Believing they'll receive little more than a stiff warning or slap on
the wrist, Whalley said, those caught often express surprise when they
learn their actions will land them in a U.S. jail, often for several
years.

It was through tears that Shoker, the Surrey mover, explained his
actions to U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, telling her it was the
recession that had driven him to get involved in the cross-border scheme.

In his statement to court, he said his business was ruined and that he
might be forced to declare bankruptcy. He was sentenced to three years
in jail and three years of supervised release.

"They can't believe how stupid they were to fall for it," said
Whalley. "It is like they never comprehended that they'd get caught.
And if they did, they never comprehended that they'd be held and
prosecuted."

And it's not just hard time that B.C.'s drug mules are gambling with.
Last week, RCMP announced they discovered the remains of 24-year-old
Brittney Irving and were treating her death as a homicide.

The 24-year-old had been missing since April 6 and was believed to
have been a drug-runner trying to get out of the business. She was
apparently about to undertake one last run.

In February 2009, Nelson resident Sam Brown, 24, hanged himself in a
Spokane County jail after being caught as part of a joint Canada-U.S.
investigation dubbed Operation Blade Runner.

Also arrested during that bust was Kelowna man Jeremy Snow, 29, who
was sentenced to nearly four years in a U.S. prison for his role in
the cross-border, marijuana-for-cocaine exchange.

Snow, a father of a seven-year-old daughter, agreed to fly a
helicopter loaded with pot into the U.S. only "after much badgering,"
according to court documents. He was significantly in debt.

"There is always going to be a market of people who are more than
willing [to smuggle drugs]," explains criminologist Neil Boyd. "In
tough times, the only difference is the range of people willing to do
this expands.

"When times are tough, people are willing to go to greater extremes to
make money."

CAUGHT AT THE BORDER

Between Jan. 1, 2007, and May 27, 2010, 78 B.C. residents were charged
with drug offences in U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Washington.

Forty-one of the 78 defendants were released by the court and are, or
were, currently under supervision with U.S. Pretrial Services.
Thirty-two defendants were detained between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31,
2008, and five defendants were detained between Jan. 1, 2009, and May
27, 2010.

- -Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington