ALBERTA SEES INCREASE IN SMUGGLING ATTEMPTS

CALGARY -- Frustrated by intense security along the B.C.-Washington border,
smugglers of both drugs and people are heading to Alberta in search of an
easier route into the United States, officials say.

"They will continue to move wherever they can get through," said Monique
Hirko of immigration customs enforcement in Helena, Mont. "It's just a game
for them. Wherever it's easiest to go across, that's where they're going to
move.

Ms. Hirko said there have been definite signs that smuggling is picking up
inland.

"I'd say for the last year and a half they're slowly working their way east
because of the heat they were getting from our . . counterparts over in the
Blaine, Wash., area."

Last month, 14 South Koreans were arrested trying to sneak into the United
States near the Chief Mountain border crossing between Alberta and Montana.

It was the second attempted smuggling operation on the Alberta-Montana
border this year. In February, 10 people from South Korea were arrested
after a failed attempt to smuggle them into the United States. All were
deported.

"The offenders are looking for a more porous part of the border to get
through so they're starting to come further east to look for a route
south," said RCMP Constable Dale Duschesne, of the Integrated Border
Enforcement Team in Raymond, Alta.

Smuggling attempts aren't confined to human cargo, he added.

"We've definitely had confirmed activity of drug smuggling that is geared
to getting . . marijuana from British Columbia into the United States
through the Alberta-Montana corridor."

Smugglers might not find Alberta easier to get through, said Richard
Huntley of the Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration Enforcement.

"How desperate are you when you're in the mountains in the middle of the
night? I don't know if I would consider that easy," he said.