TUNNELING SHOWS A DETERMINATION

The discovery of a drug smuggling tunnel across the border between
Langley and Lynden last Wednesday brings even more attention to the
booming B.C. Bud business.

Tunneling to avoid detection is only done when there is a very
pressing desire to make money or escape from custody It is not an easy
undertaking.

The best-known example of tunneling took place in Germany during the
Second World War. A group of Allied prisoners of war, mostly British
airmen, spent months working on a tunnel between their barracks and
some brush outside the guard towers.

On March 24, 1944, 83 prisoners managed to get into the tunnel and
attempt escape. All but three were recaptured, and 50 were shot by the
Gestapo in contravention of the Geneva Convention.

This event became the basis of the movie The Great Escape, which had
the nerve to suggest that it was mainly Americans who escaped. In
fact, there were no Americans involved in the real escape.

Interestingly enough, in March 1945, 67 German prisoners escaped from
a camp in Wales, also by way of a tunnel. This story is not nearly as
well-known. In this case, all the POWs were recaptured and none were
shot.

It appears that the Aldergrove tunnel has been under construction for
many months, and has also been under observation by police and border
agencies on both sides of the border for many months.

Like the tunnelers in Germany, one of their biggest problems
undoubtedly was disposing of the material excavated from the tunnel I
understand they used a large hut as the starting point in Canada, and
that may have helped in avoiding some detection, but a lot of material
is unearthed during an excavation of such magnitude.

What the discovery of this tunnel shows is two things.

One is that marijuana smuggling is such a big business and is so
lucrative that measures and risks of this nature are worth taking.

What it also shows is that border agencies are much more on top of
these things than some smugglers seem to think. The U.S. has placed so
much emphasis on security since Sept. 11, 2001 that potential
smugglers are under much more scrutiny.

This tunnel could have been used for much more than marijuana
smuggling. It is quite likely that other drugs and guns would come
back from the U.S. It is also possible that its uses could include
people smuggling, as there are many people who want to get into the
U.S. and are quite prepared to pay big sums to sneak in.

It will be fascinating to learn more about the tunnel in the days to
come.

Guest columnist Frank Bucholtz is the editor of the Langley Times.