HI-TECH PLANE PATROLS BORDER

The U.S. is gearing up to launch hi-tech military reconnaissance Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles, called drones, to patrol its northern border at night.

The unmanned UAVs, which contain sophisticated infrared photographic
equipment, are similar to those used by the U.S. Air Force to hunt
terrorists in Afghanistan.

"It is quite probable a UAV will be used along the northern border," U.S.
Border Patrol spokesman Mario Villarreal said yesterday from Washington,
D.C. "It could be used at some point."

Villarreal said the RCMP was involved in a UAV test along the Idaho-British
Columbia border last month, when arrests were made and 50 kilos of B.C. bud
marijuana intercepted while being smuggled into the U.S.

He said the test involved the U.S. Forestry Service, U.S. Marines and
Border Patrol.

"I wouldn't limit that we wouldn't use them on the northern border,"
Villarreal said, adding the drones are used along the Mexican border to
intercept alien smugglers.

U.S. officials said the drones will travel quietly along the border at high
altitude relaying digital images to a command centre. If there's suspicious
activity Border Patrol agents will be dispatched to investigate.

The U.S. already have some of its spy satellites making passes over Lake
Ontario and other Great Lakes to detect smugglers.

He said since Sept. 11 his agency has been working overtime to install heat
and motion sensors and banks of hidden cameras to monitor areas near border
crossings.