DRUG BUST STUMPS U.S. CUSTOMS

CHRISTINA LAKE - U.S. customs officials have still not laid any charges
despite seizing 105 kilograms of marijuana at the Cascade/Laurier crossing
near Christina Lake on May 18.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Garrison Courtney says a
Canadian resident was stopped at the Highway 395 border crossing and was
found to have a quantity of "green leafy substance" in the empty cargo area
of the DCT Chambers wood chip truck he was driving. On-the-spot THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol) tests confirmed that the material was marijuana but
at this point no charges have been laid against the driver.

"The issue is whether you can prove a nexus of control," says Courtney.
"Can you prove the driver knew about the load he was carrying. Was the
driver, or the company or even someone else the party responsible?"

Even with the "zero tolerance" drug policy of the Department of Homeland
Security, authorities could not determine whether the driver could be
legally responsible for the contents of the presumably empty trailer he
picked up on behalf of the company.

"The driver was released and the [truck] was returned," said David
Chambers, vice president of DCT Chambers in Vernon who could have lost a
$250,000 highway truck and trailer unit if border officials had seized the
unit.

The "zero tolerance" for smugglers at borders temporarily cost Chambers a
truck and trailer unit a couple of years ago when a driver was caught
smuggling a six-pack of beer back into Canada at the Pacific Border
Crossing in Abbotsford.

The company has between 20 and 30 trucks per day crossing the border and
has a policy of encouraging drivers to check their loads before crossing
the border. "We will have to be more diligent in getting our guys to check
the trailers now," says Chambers.

Charges may never be laid in the incident but under U.S. law the driver may
still be barred from ever entering the U.S.