HIGH NUMBER OF BORDER SEIZURES AT OSOYOOS AND ACROSS
CANADA

A busy summer of seizures at the Osoyoos border crossing was echoed in
Canada's 2004 statistics.

Daily and nightly calls of suspicious activity flooded the RCMP office last
summer, said Staff-Sgt. Walt Makepeace from the South Okanagan RCMP in Osoyoos.

The high level of activity during the warmer months was due to an increase
in people, he said.

Paula Shore from the Canada Border Service Agency - which includes water,
land and air crossing - said heroin seizures doubled and cocaine seizures
tripled in the Pacific region, which represents B.C. and the Yukon, in 2004
over the previous year.

In total there were 2,174 drug seizures, 465 weapons seizures, 732 currency
seizures, 16 abducted children recovered, 3,350 immigration violations,
1,700 removals of individuals from the country, 10,424 interceptions of
agricultural products, 1,415 arrested and $516,221 in criminal fines at the
region's 43 points of entry.

The higher rate of seizures can be attributed to the working relationship
between the RCMP and the cross-border patrol and sheriffs in Okanogan
County in Washington. The Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) was
also on hand during the summer to deal with the increased activity, said
Makepeace.

The majority of seizures during the summer were marijuana and money, mainly
heading south, said Makepeace, with most of the tips coming from local
residents on the Canadian side.

People-smuggling tips account for a significant number of calls to the
station. The majority of attempts are by Korean and Chinese immigrants
running on foot into the United States, he said.

Two weeks ago, RCMP caught two people trying run across, he said.

The number of seizures of all types has decreased significantly since the
summer, said Makepeace.

However, he said he expects it to rise with the temperatures.