Smugglers keep agents busy

Drug economics are like world economics: It’s all about supply and demand.

And drug smugglers do what they must to meet people’s demands.

The recent interception of two drug-laden float planes landing at remote Eastern Washington lakes, the discovery of an elaborate tunnel linking Washington and Canada – a first for the northern border of the United States – and the capture of a boat carrying more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana are raising concerns among border patrol and drug enforcement officials that more drugs are getting into the United States.

In fact, agents say they seized only about half as much marijuana coming into Washington during a recent one-year period, compared to the previous year, even though the supply of “B.C. bud” doesn’t seem to have diminished.

“We know that the float plane situation is taking place,” said Lonnie Moore, a spokesman for the Spokane sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. “When you have them landing like that and taking off so quickly, it’s hard to get them. Plus, if the planes have a propeller you have to be careful. We suspect there’s been more float planes that have come in, but they haven’t been caught.”

Moore explained that the rough terrain and mountainous areas that border Canada in Washington, Idaho and Montana have their advantages and disadvantages.

“It’s difficult for them (drug smugglers) to walk across the border,” he said. “On the other hand, airplanes can easily fly into those mountains under the radar.”

Drug enforcement agents found the U.S.-Canada tunnel last summer. It was 360 feet long, reinforced with 2-by-6 wooden supports and rebar, and stretched from a metal hut in British Columbia to the living room of a home in the Western Washington town of Lynden. Officials said it was the most sophisticated tunnel they had seen for trafficking.

Twice in recent months, Eastern Washington law officers have intercepted large quantities of marijuana coming into the country by float plane. Officers confiscated a total of 400 pounds of “B.C. bud” flown to remote Omak and Soap lakes on the Colville Indian Reservation.

No arrest was made in the first incident, in February, according to earlier press accounts. But a March bust resulted in the arrest of two Vancouver, B.C., residents, who have been charged with smuggling controlled substances.

Those incidents may explain a discrepancy in drug seizures that agents have been trying to figure out, officials said.

Drug agents in Eastern Washington seized 4,477 pounds of marijuana for the one-year period ending in April 2005 – down from about 8,203 pounds for the same period a year earlier.

“But even though we seized less, we know the supply is constant because the cost is remaining the same,” said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Ken DeMello, who works with the regional Drug Enforcement Administration task force. “If there was less available, then we’d see an increase in the price of bud.

“The drugs have been coming into the country pretty steady.”

Small aircraft pose problems for the border patrol and drug enforcement agents trying to keep Canada’s high-grade marijuana out of the country, but officials have been able to figure out other forms of transport used by smugglers crossing the U.S.’ northern and southern borders.

“Drug traffickers try all sorts of methods to circumvent law enforcement,” said Jeff Eig, spokesman for the Seattle field division of the DEA.

Some drugs are carried across the border in backpacks and duffle bags, in shoes or hidden in underwear, drug officials said. And smugglers will use every type of vehicle.

Agents have found drugs in electronic games, cans of soup and computer parts, according to the U.S. Customs Service. In 1999, an inspector found about 695 pounds of marijuana in decorative rocks. A man once used a tombstone to smuggle cocaine.

Smugglers put the drugs in compartments on fenders and in gas and propane tanks, Moore said. An tire can hold several pounds of marijuana.

Drug agents have found drugs under back seats and floorboards and hidden in cargo on commercial trucks, officials said. Smugglers also use food – such as mustard and coffee – in attempt to hide the smell so drug-sniffing dogs can’t find the contraband.

Eig said people have even thrown drugs over the border from Canada then come over to the United States to find them.

“Smugglers are always looking for a new angle to get in,” Moore said.