THIRD SURREY MAN PLEADS GUILTY OVER DRUG TUNNEL

SEATTLE (AP) - The last of three men charged with digging a
sophisticated drug-smuggling tunnel under the U.S.-Canadian border
pleaded guilty Friday, two days after a U.S. Senate bill was
introduced to make cross-border tunnelling punishable by 20 years in prison.

Timothy Woo faces at least five years in prison and a maximum fine of
$2 million US when he is sentenced for conspiracy to smuggle
marijuana, as do Francis Devandra Raj and Jonathan Valenzuela, who
previously entered guilty pleas.

All three are from Surrey. They were arrested last July, shortly
after they finished the 110-metre-long tunnel just north of Lynden,
Wash. -- the first tunnel discovered along the U.S.-Canadian border.
It ran from the living room of a home on the U.S. side to a
boarded-up Quonset hut on the Canadian side.

Border guards noticed construction materials being taken into the hut
and loads of dirt coming out and investigators used the U.S. Patriot
Act's provision for "sneak-and-peek" search warrants to examine the
tunnel and set up cameras to monitor it. The investigators allowed
three marijuana-running trips to take place in the tunnel in hopes of
learning more about the suspects and whether they were involved in a
wider drug ring. In each case, the defendants were tailed as they
left the tunnel.