Posted on 08/23/2007 10:26:48 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
PORT ANGELES - A car carrying four men reportedly sped through the U.S. Customs port of entry off the ferry from Victoria on Wednesday night.
The Port Angeles Police Department received a report through the PenCom dispatch center of the car failing to stop for inspection.
The car disembarked off the MV Coho at about 9:20 p.m. after the day's last southbound sailing.
It reportedly raced past the checkpoint so quickly that nobody could determine a license plate number or even the plates' jurisdiction.
The car turned left - or eastbound - onto Railroad Avenue from the port of entry, according to reports.
Police were looking for a four-door gray car or sport utility vehicle with four occupants, possibly Asian, headed east out of Port Angeles, said Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck.
Port Angeles police officers were unable to catch up with the vehicle and alerted the Clallam County Sheriff's Department and State Patrol, Roggenbuck said.
No more information was available Wednesday night. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the scene declined comment.
Customs officers check all vehicles disembarking the Coho in covered lanes between the ferry landing and Railroad Avenue.
Citizenship verification is done by U.S. officials at the Coho's Black Ball Transport terminal in Victoria before passengers and motorists board the 341-foot ferry.
Terrorist captured in 1999 On Dec. 14, 1999, Customs officers uncovered an al-Qaida-trained Algerian national, Ahmed Ressam, at the same Port Angeles port of entry.
A trunkload of bomb-making materials were found inside the rented sedan he was driving.
Ressam fled on foot, but was quickly captured by customs inspectors in downtown Port Angeles.
Ressam was tried in federal court and found guilty of plotting to blow up a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport with the explosives and gear in the car.
(Excerpt) Read more at peninsuladailynews.com ...
>>It reportedly raced past the checkpoint so quickly that nobody could determine a license plate number or even the plates’ jurisdiction.
WTH aren’t there video cameras at the checkpoint, recording all the action? We manage this quite easily at toll plazas.
Do cars regularly zip past the check point?
Were the cheese blocks with wires coming out of them at several airports isolated incidents?
One never knows how one piece of a puzzle fits in until the puzzle is complete. And in the case of a dirty bomb, etc. , it will be too late.
But I also don't let these incidents control my life, just keep them in the back of my mind. I'll let Homeland Security stay up late at night thinking about them.
[Mr] T
Homicide bombers, didn’t have anything on them, so it didn’t matter if they got caught.
Going so fast they can't tell which one?
Damn!
Customs officers check all vehicles disembarking the Coho
Guess this is a lie.
“Isolated incident, not related to terrorism.”
Homeland Security has probably already said that.
Mr. Chertoff, please explain to me how I’m supposed to be safer again... Oh that’s right, now I understand why it’s safer, and faster drive around the west, than to expect positive results from the government. Back to searching grandma’s boys...
No more “running” the gauntlet, like these four bozos did.
Maybe, I have the wrong job. Just think how much money these guys get to make us safe and how they regularly fail to do so.
Shame!
This deserves the big WTF. You know what it takes just to get on an installation with ID!
I'd make it my business to see to it that, the next time someone tries something like this, it does matter -- to them.
Specifically, anyone blows through Customs like that again, I'd have a crew waiting a quarter mile up the road with very specific instructions that if a car tries to overrun Customs, they are to turn it into a colander and not stop firing until nothing, absolutely nothing, is moving inside that car.
I don’t know how often these ferries come in but you would think after that incident back in 99 that they would have someone standing guard and ready everytime a ferry comes in.
geez
But, that’s no terrorist. That’s Maggie Chang, if not mistaken?...
(very talented HK actress)
With toll plazas, government revenue is involved. Somebody might skip out on paying a toll. That's a lot more serious than some terrorist blowing up mere citizens!
It sure is. Mr. Inspectorette and I have plans to take the M.V. Coho to Victoria and back right after Labor Day. We've never been to Victoria, and everyone has told us it's absolutely beautiful. Now I'm going to be a wreck all the way over and back.
We've often taken the Washington State Ferries to Orcas Island from Anacortes, and it's a fun and overall pleasant experience. Very efficiently run, as well.
I'm going to reassure myself with the hope that security on the Coho will be EXTRA tight!
The Coho does 2 to 4 crossings a day depending on the time of year, between Port Angeles, WA and Victoria BC. It is a privately owned vessel, unlike our Washington State Ferrys
Our Washington State Ferrys however have 29 vessels, and around 500 sailings a day. Thats right, 500. Only one of these sails to Canada, the Anacortes to Sidney which makes two runs a day.
Four who ran Customs checkpoint found in Port Angeles hotel, fined $500
By Randy Trick, Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES - Four people who failed to stop at a Customs checkpoint when disembarking from the MV Coho were found in a Port Angeles hotel after midnight.
The car carrying the four people - who officers declined to identify - got off the ferry from Victoria at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Mike Milne, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection, said the group -all American citizens - had been pre-screened by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Victoria before boarding the ferry.
Citizenship verification is done in Victoria.
On the U.S. side, in Port Angeles, Customs officers check all vehicles disembarking the Coho in covered lanes between the ferry landing and Railroad Avenue.
Wrong lane
P The driver of the car, who was from Seattle, either thought he had been cleared in Victoria or mistakenly got in the wrong lane at the checkpoint in Port Angeles and drove through, Milne said.
The vehicle, a 2005 Toyota 4Runner, did not speed through the checkpoint to avoid officers, contrary to initial reports to the Port Angeles Police Department, Milne said.
"The guy came off the ferry after being cleared by pre-clearance officers in Victoria, then apparently, either inadvertently or not, took a lane that was not really an exit lane," Milne said.
"Anecdotally, it doesn't happen very often. 'Rare or seldom' is a better description."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found the four registered at a Port Angeles hotel.
Shortly after midnight, federal agents contacted the group, interviewed them and determined they were not a terrorist or smuggling threat, Milne said.
Driver fined
But the driver broke a federal law by failing to report his entrance to the United States, Milne said. The Customs agents filled out the paperwork to seize the man's car, then fined him $5,000.
The agents then reduced the fine to $500. The man paid the reduced fine and the agents filled out the paperwork to return his car, Milne said.
But initial reports to and from the PenCom dispatch center did not specify whether the car was considered a threat or not.
The Port Angeles Police Department was alerted shortly after 9:20 p.m. and searched for the car as it headed east away from the ferry terminal.
Officers could not find it and after a short time figured it had left town.
The State Patrol was alerted, but no troopers were in the area, said Lt. Clint Casebolt, spokesman for the agency.
Milne said that after the car exited the checkpoint, the Port Angeles Customs office contacted the Customs Security Center in Blaine, which records the video feeds from the checkpoints, and the prescreening office in Victoria, Milne said.
The border officers in Canada said the driver and passengers were prescreened and did not appear on any criminal or watch lists, Milne said.
Had their names raised any red flags, they either would not have been allowed to board the ferry, or officers on the Port Angeles side would have been waiting, Milne said.
________ Reporter Randy Trick can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at randy.trick@peninsuladailynews.com.
A BIG THANKS for the Update. Glad it turned out to be just some brainless Seattleites.
The good news:
The vehicle was inspected by immigration so the people in the vehicle were logged into the customs Tex system. It will not be hard to figure out who was in the vehicle.
The fact that 4 people were in the vehicle indicates that it was not drugs. Drug runners who “blow” through ports of entry travel alone.
The vast majority of port runners are just stupid people who can’t read and follow the direction of the signage.
The bad news:
Ahmed Ressam was also inspected and admitted by immigration at this same port of entry.
AQ has a history of going back to the same places.
The recent FBI alert involving the ferries (quite usual)
The fact that 4 people were in the vehicle indicates that drugs were not involved.
It does not look like the type of port runner that was just confused.
My intelligence assessment:
I think we better find these people and that vehicle FAST before something bad happens.
That’s unnecessary.
It is truly astounding that after 9-11, Customs and Border Protection is still trying to develop a strategy to deal with port runners.
Unauthorized vehicles should never have the ability to exit a port area.
Ports of entries are controlled environments, yet we have not taken the most basic steps to ensure that unauthorized vehicles can’t simply drive away. This lack of basic tactical infrastructure is a gaping vulnerability in our overall system of border control.
Since 9-11 nearly every governmental and large comical building has been equipped with simple retractable barrier systems capable of stopping unauthorized vehicles. These systems come in a variety shapes and sizes and are available through GSA. A quick goggle search turns up several manufactures.
The tactic of port-running could be stopped overnight with the instillation of these simple and reliable systems.
UPDATE
Car and Passengers found. Just stupid Seattlites with a nice new crispy $500 dollar ticket.
LATEST NEWS FROM PORT ANGELES
Four who ran Customs checkpoint found in Port Angeles hotel, fined $500
By Randy Trick, Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES - Four people who failed to stop at a Customs checkpoint when disembarking from the MV Coho were found in a Port Angeles hotel after midnight.
The car carrying the four people - who officers declined to identify - got off the ferry from Victoria at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Mike Milne, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection, said the group -all American citizens - had been pre-screened by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Victoria before boarding the ferry.
Citizenship verification is done in Victoria.
On the U.S. side, in Port Angeles, Customs officers check all vehicles disembarking the Coho in covered lanes between the ferry landing and Railroad Avenue.
Wrong lane
P The driver of the car, who was from Seattle, either thought he had been cleared in Victoria or mistakenly got in the wrong lane at the checkpoint in Port Angeles and drove through, Milne said.
The vehicle, a 2005 Toyota 4Runner, did not speed through the checkpoint to avoid officers, contrary to initial reports to the Port Angeles Police Department, Milne said.
“The guy came off the ferry after being cleared by pre-clearance officers in Victoria, then apparently, either inadvertently or not, took a lane that was not really an exit lane,” Milne said.
“Anecdotally, it doesn’t happen very often. ‘Rare or seldom’ is a better description.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found the four registered at a Port Angeles hotel.
Shortly after midnight, federal agents contacted the group, interviewed them and determined they were not a terrorist or smuggling threat, Milne said.
Driver fined
But the driver broke a federal law by failing to report his entrance to the United States, Milne said. The Customs agents filled out the paperwork to seize the man’s car, then fined him $5,000.
The agents then reduced the fine to $500. The man paid the reduced fine and the agents filled out the paperwork to return his car, Milne said.
But initial reports to and from the PenCom dispatch center did not specify whether the car was considered a threat or not.
The Port Angeles Police Department was alerted shortly after 9:20 p.m. and searched for the car as it headed east away from the ferry terminal.
Officers could not find it and after a short time figured it had left town.
The State Patrol was alerted, but no troopers were in the area, said Lt. Clint Casebolt, spokesman for the agency.
Milne said that after the car exited the checkpoint, the Port Angeles Customs office contacted the Customs Security Center in Blaine, which records the video feeds from the checkpoints, and the prescreening office in Victoria, Milne said.
The border officers in Canada said the driver and passengers were prescreened and did not appear on any criminal or watch lists, Milne said.
Had their names raised any red flags, they either would not have been allowed to board the ferry, or officers on the Port Angeles side would have been waiting, Milne said.
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