LESS MARIJUANA SEIZED AT BORDER IN 2004

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- U.S. border protection agencies seized more than 5.5
tons of marijuana coming into the country through Whatcom County from
January through November of 2004, down from 7.7 tons the previous year, The
Bellingham Herald reported Sunday.

Still, the amount - enough B.C. Bud to fill three tractor-trailers - was
more than double the amount seized in typical years before Sept. 11, 2001.

The federal government has spent millions of dollars more on protecting
Washington state's border with Canada since the terrorist attacks of 9/11,
adding about 200 border-related jobs, as well as high-tech detection and
intelligence equipment.

The added scrutiny has led to greater drug seizures.

"I just think law enforcement as a whole has gotten better," said Joe
Giuliano, U.S. Border Patrol deputy chief of the Blaine sector. "It would
be speculative to try and attribute it to more drugs."

The data indicate that drug traffickers are increasingly looking to avoid
official ports of entry, such as the Peace Arch at the border in Blaine.
Agents seized 4,777 pounds of marijuana at official entry points in Whatcom
County in 2004 - down from 11,590 pounds in 2003.

Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents, who monitor the rugged lands between
official ports of entry, seized more than 6,200 pounds of marijuana in the
first 11 months of 2004 - up from 3,744 pounds in all of 2003.

"With our resources, technology and intelligence, we like to think we're
displacing them," said Jerry Jensen, Customs and Border Protection
assistant area director, told the newspaper.

The seizure of such quantities of drugs has little or no effect on the drug
market in Whatcom County, in part because much of it is destined for other
locations, said Sgt. Kevin Hester of the Northwest Regional Drug Task Force.

And there seems to be an endless supply that law enforcement isn't catching.

"There's just too much of it," Hester said.

Marijuana sells for about $2,200 to $3,000 a pound.

The tons of marijuana seized on the way into Whatcom County are only a
fraction of the total amount of drugs seized coming into the country. In
2003, Customs and Border Protection seized 2.2 million pounds of drugs and
$51 million in currency nationwide. Marijuana accounted for the bulk of the
drugs seized.

In addition to marijuana, in 2004 CBP and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement working in Whatcom County seized:

- -52 pounds of cocaine;

- -4 pounds of hashish;

- -977 pounds of other narcotics;

- -$2.2 million in currency.

Border Patrol agents in Whatcom County seized:

- -88.2 pounds of cocaine.

- -230 pounds of ephedrine, used to make methamphetamine.

- -59.8 pounds, or 400,000 tablets, of Ecstasy.

CBP officers in Whatcom County use a number of methods to detect suspicious
cargo in passenger cars and commercial trucks, including secondary
inspections and a gamma ray machine that looks through semi trailer walls
and into shipments like a doctor's X-ray machine.