U.S., CANADA WORKING TOGETHER AGAINST TERRORISTS, ORGANIZED CRIME

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS (AP) - Top law officers of the U.S. and Canada
announced plans Wednesday to monitor 7,065 miles of shared border and help
deter the movement of terrorists and other cross-border criminals.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Canadian Solicitor General Wayne
Easter said the countries are creating two new Integrated Border
Enforcement Teams focusing on the border between Saskatchewan and North
Dakota and Montana, and on the border between Nova Scotia and Maine.

"Terrorists and those who engage in racketeering, fraud and trafficking do
not respect national borders," Ashcroft said Wednesday during the seventh
annual U.S.-Canada Cross Border Crime Forum at The Greenbrier resort.

"We cannot fight these threats separately and expect to win. We must defend
our values together," Ashcroft said.

While the forum was created to address smuggling of drugs and illegal
firearms, terrorism has become a focus since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on
the U.S., Easter said.

"Canada is not immune from terrorism," Easter said. "This is a common
threat, not just to our continent, but to our way of life."

Stepped-up monitoring of the longest undefended border in the world is one
way to inhibit terrorists' movement, Easter said.

"We will maintain this increased level of vigilance as long as necessary,"
he said. "There is always more to do."

Last month, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police arrested 65 people in 10 U.S. and Canadian cities as a
result of an 18-month international investigation dubbed "Operation
Northern Star."

The target of the investigation was the importation into the U.S. of
pseudo-ephedrine, a chemical that is an essential part of producing illegal
methamphetamine. Brokers in the U.S. had arranged for bulk shipments of the
chemical from Canada, most of it smuggled beneath legitimate products in
tractor-trailer rigs.

Police seized about 14,000 pounds of the chemical, which originated from a
Canadian pharmaceutical company and could have yielded about 9,000 pounds
of methamphetamine. Law enforcers estimated the street value at between $36
million and $144 million.

"Operation Northern Star is evidence that U.S. and Canadian law enforcement
.. are building a strong and secure zone in North America, a 'smart
border' that facilitates freedom of access but is closed to criminality,"
Ashcroft said.

In addition to stepped-up monitoring of the border, the crime forum
produced two other initiatives: a five-year report on mass-marketing fraud
and a plan to combat it, and two joint public advisories on identity theft,
one aimed at retail businesses and the other aimed at consumers.