SMUGGLERS HAVE EASY GO INTO U.S.

Danny has recently returned to Vancouver from his first smuggling job. It
was organized by a friend after Danny told him he was going to California
for a two-week vacation.

"He made it sound so easy," Danny said. "It was."

Danny crossed the B.C.-Washington State border on a bus with just his
backpack filled with clothes. He said he wouldn't have agreed to the
smuggling part if he would have had to cross the border with marijuana.

Fake Whales

In an undisclosed location near the border in Blaine, Washington, Danny
picks up 20 kg of B.C. marijuana in a hockey bag inside a van. He doesn't
know how it got there, he doesn't ask questions.

From there, Danny drives the pot to California for a drop. For his work he
was paid $250 US.

"It just about paid for my trip and I knew that the chances of getting
caught were small," Danny said.

Boats, hollowed-out logs and even fake whales with global positioning, are
all tools of the trade for smugglers. Traffickers can sell marijuana which
costs about $200 to grow in Canada for $3,000 US south of the border.

The profits are potentially enormous and people will do anything to get
marijuana to the U.S. where residents buy up Canadian pot by metric tons.

"To patrol the border is simply impossible," B.C. marijuana activist Marc
Emery said. "It just can't be done. Too many coves, too many mountains.
Anyone who gets caught is just not doing it right."

Drug Mules

The U.S. Border Patrol said marijuana seizures at B.C.-U.S. crossing points
have increased 2,500% in the past five years.

Tyler Morgan, investigations officer for U.S. Customs in Blaine,
Washington, said although the largest percentage of smuggling is still at
major ports of entry, many smugglers have moved to more remote locations,
like national parks, to avoid contact with border enforcement.

Drug mules, who pass through North Cascades as middlemen or couriers, are
now paid about $500 for every kilogram they carry through the snow-covered
mountains at the border.

RCMP and U.S. border officials have set up an "Integrated Border
Enforcement Team" (IBET) along 250 km of the crucial pot smuggling area
that starts on the Pacific coast. It's hoped the extra scrutiny will have a
real effect as border agents estimate that they now catch only 2% of the
bud headed south.