BEWARE OF THE EYES IN THE SKY

Law Enforcement. Unmanned Aircraft Patrolling Stretch of Canada-U. S. Border

A warning to Canadians smuggling batches of "B. C. bud" or other
contraband into the United States: Beware the eyes in the sky.

An unmanned plane the U.S. government has been using to patrol North
Dakota's northern border since 2009 is now flying along a greater
section of America's northern frontier, stretching from Spokane,
Wash., to the Lake of the Woods region in Minnesota.

Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection say the aircraft
can transmit live, streaming video and radar images from above the
huge swaths of rugged -and remote -terrain that are a haven for
criminals sneaking marijuana and ecstasy into the U.S. and cocaine into Canada.

"We're trying to work the border smarter, not harder," said John
Priddy, director of National Air Security Operations Centre-Grand
Forks in North Dakota, where the aircraft is based. "There's new
technology being deployed, which will make it more difficult to
conduct illicit activities."

Resembling a giant mechanical wasp, the remote-controlled Predator B
- -which has a length of 12 metres and a wingspan of 20 metres -can
stay in the air for 20 hours at a time and typically flies at about
6,000 metres.

It is equipped with infrared sensors and ground-movement detectors
and can produce radar images showing tire tracks, shoe impressions
and anything else that looks out of place.

Priddy said officials are not deploying the plane each day with an
expectation that they will catch a criminal in the act. Instead, they
send the Predator B to specific areas of the border, which have been
flagged by authorities, and conduct surveillance missions -sometimes
over a period of days.

Priddy said the aircraft has contributed to arrests, though he
declined to elaborate because investigations are ongoing.

Similar aircraft have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and along
parts of the U.S.-Mexico border. The long-term goal is to have them
flying along the entire length of the Canada-U. S. border.

Supt. Warren Coons, director of the RCMP Integrated Border
Enforcement Team, said Wednesday he has not received information
about the surveillance program's effectiveness and declined to offer
an opinion.

Coons said there are no plans to adopt such technology in Canada, but
he wouldn't discount it, either. He noted Canadian authorities use
other forms of visible and covert technology -he declined to say what
- -at points of entry and in remote sections along the border. Improved
communication between U.S. and Canadian authorities has helped to
identify vulnerable areas, he said.

Some Canadian residents who live along the border wonder whether the
Predator B is anything more than a fancy toy.

In the two years the Predator B has been patrolling the North
Dakota-Manitoba border, southern Manitoba legislature representative
Clifford Graydon said he's never heard of any arrests linked to the aircraft.

He said his counterparts across the border have told him the machine
has had mechanical issues and doesn't perform well in bad weather.

"I'm not certain how effective it's been," he said.

Graydon did acknowledge, however, that the smuggling of drugs and
guns is a problem and that the mere publicityof thePredatorBcould
serve as a deterrent.

Thomas Butler, mayor of the Alberta border village of Coutts, said he
hopes the plane's cameras are focused on catching criminals and not
prying into people's windows.

"I have no problem personally as long as all they're doing is
monitoring activity at the border," he said.

U.S. authorities said they have no interest in people's private affairs.

They said the Predator B has been a reliable performer, though
federal aviation restrictions prevent them from flying in bad weather.

The extension of the Predator B's flight path comes at a time when
criminal activity along America's northern border is getting the
attention of that country's highest officials. This month, U.S.
President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that requires the
U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy to develop within six
months a plan to better coordinate anti-drug efforts between federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies along the border.

Authorities say smugglers have used all forms of transportation to
cross the 49th parallel, including all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles.

A report released late last year by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office noted the Spokane sector, which includes parts
of Washington and Montana, has seen a lot of smuggling using
low-flying aircraft.

RCMP officials acknowledge the use of small planes and helicopters to
smuggle drugs is a "vulnerability" that has been identified in yearly
threat assessments.

In 2009, a high-profile joint U.S.-Canada investigation dubbed
Operation Blade Runner saw authorities intercept two helicopter
shipments of marijuana from B.C. to Washington and Idaho. It led to
the arrests of eight Canadians and one American.

Drug smugglers have also been caught snowshoeing across the border.
In B.C., they've even smuggled drugs using an underground tunnel.