Posted on 06/01/2008 4:40:00 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
The latest threat assessment prepared for special border enforcement teams says pleasure boats are among the increasingly inventive means used by crafty couriers to slip illicit cargo — including drugs, guns and people — from one country to the other.
The marine environment “is viewed as particularly vulnerable and porous to smuggling activity” due to the many challenges in keeping tabs on lakes, waterways and tiny coves, says the August 2007 report, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
One American criminal group has children carrying bags of tobacco swim across the St. Croix River between Maine and New Brunswick, the assessment says.
Two Israeli citizens travelling in a rental truck were apprehended in the U.S. after illegally entering from Canada by boat in the Central St. Lawrence Valley region.
A group linked to the Hells Angels Quebec chapter is suspected of smuggling cocaine and weapons by diving into the St. Lawrence and “transporting the commodities under water.”
Outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Pacific region are active in the use and traffic of stolen boats and equipment, the report adds.
The boundary between Canada and the U.S. runs on water for 3,830 kilometres.
“Anyone seeking to avoid inspection at a port of entry may choose surreptitious entry through accessible shorelines (which could be considered the marine equivalent to an unguarded road), or one of the many marinas/boat launches in close proximity to the border,” the report says.
Fifteen Integrated Border Enforcement Teams with staff from various agencies monitor land, air and marine locations between official entry points along the Canada-U.S. border.
The threat assessment was jointly prepared by members of the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Joint Task Force-North.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
About 30 years ago I took a 2-week canoe trip along the border in NE Minnesota. Probably crossed the border 20 or 30 times.
Never once saw anybody resembling a border control person.
I remember about 30 years ago when a buddy and I canoed across the Detroit River to Canada and back. No one batted an eye. I wonder if things have changed.
Your post is pretty much the same as mine...
There doesn’t really seem to be any serious border control between Canada and the US. The closest I have ever come to being searched was when I flippantly commented that I had a gun, a spear gun. Most of the time when I cross the border, there isn’t even anyone at the guard shack. I will decline to say where, because the locals like it that way and there is no need to give anyone ideas.
Just curious: Have Red Wings fans ever smuggled any octopi into a Maple Leafs game?
Build the danged fence.
$More $ funding $ needed $ wanted$
Not sure of that, but they did throw one out on the Penguins ice the other night.
Go Penguins.
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