FIRST OF NEW BASES OPENS TO MONITOR CANADA BORDER

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - As part of a dramatic boost in surveillance of the
Canadian border, federal officials Friday dedicated the first of five
planned bases for regular flights to look for drug runners and others
crossing illegally by air or land.

The Bellingham Air Marine Branch is to have a staff of 70, two helicopters,
an airplane and a high-speed boat by year's end. Similar bases have policed
the Mexican border for three decades, but the new facility is the first on
Canada's border.

The five new bases, which will dot the border from Washington state to
upstate New York, are a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
as well as smuggling of illegal aliens and drugs, including British
Columbia's potent strains of marijuana. Similar bases have policed the
Mexican border for three decades.

"Smuggling is a two-way street," said Michael Milne, spokesman for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland
Security. "We've got cocaine and money going north, B.C. bud and human
smuggling coming south."

A second station in Plattsburgh, N.Y., is scheduled by the end of the year,
Milne said, followed by bases near Detroit; Grand Forks, N.D.; and Great
Falls, Mont.

The Bellingham base initially has only enough money to operate flights
about eight hours a day.

"Our greatest asset right now is they don't know when we're going to be
operating," said Mitch Pribble, a pilot and associate field director for
the office.

The aircraft will allow agents to track suspicious flights where the pilot
doesn't report to customs or talk on the radio. Federal pilots will follow
such aircraft or direct agents on the ground.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Congress earmarked $35.2 million in the
current fiscal year to get the Bellingham station up and running.

"I feel like the northern border is finally getting its due," Murray said.