BOMB THREAT ON FERRY GOES UP IN SMOKE UPON INVESTIGATION

What was thought to be a bomb threat on a ferry sailing out of Tsawwassen
Thursday morning was really just a case of two guys trying to find a
private place to smoke a joint.

Two American tourists on the 11 a.m. sailing of the Spirit of British
Columbia told a crew member they observed two men greet each other by
shaking hands. One of the tourists then thought she heard one of the men
say "blow up the boat," confirmed Sidney RCMP Cpl. Nedge Drgastin.

The pair slipped into a crew-only area. The tourists snapped a photo of one
of the men, and then reported the incident to a B.C. Ferries crew member.
From there, the RCMP and FBI were notified.

On the other side of water, Sidney RCMP officers gathered at the Swartz Bay
terminal.

"We didn't know at that point whether they were foot passengers or in a
vehicle or anything else, but in fact the two males were located," Drgastin
said.

The two men were cooperative.

"They explained that they had one joint and that they didn't want to smoke
it in front of other people, so they went into an area that said crew only
and smoked their joint in private."The pair told police they never said
anything about blowing up the boat. "The closest someone could have taken
what they were saying was, 'let's do up a doobie,'" Drgastin explained.

The men offered their bags for police to search. There were no other drugs
found.

Drgastin said the RCMP checked their passports, did a search on the
national intelligence data base, but nothing come up.

"They appeared forthright," she said.

Even though this incident was not what it appeared, Drgastin said it's good
members of the public are aware of what's going on around them.

"It's better to report a concern than to let it go unchecked," she said.

The men were later released.

B.C. Ferries spokesperson Debra Marshall confirmed the police incident on
the Spirit of British Columbia, but deferred further comment to the RCMP.

In January of last year, an American intelligence report, the Combined
Analysis of Potential Foreign Strike Zones, listed 22 potential terrorist
targets in Canada. The Tsawwassen ferry terminal was eighth on the list.

The terminal was used by convicted al Qaida terrorist Ahmed Ressam. He
caught a ferry on Dec. 13, 1999 from Tsawwassen carrying a homemade bomb in
the trunk of his rented vehicle. The bomb was intended for Los Angeles
International Airport, but Ressam was stopped by a U.S. border guard at
Port Angeles before he was able to enter the country.