Search for smugglers getting a lift

Tue., Sept. 25, 2007

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

PORT ANGELES, Wash. – Smugglers who think they’re safe from the U.S. Coast Guard when they enter Canadian waters or have escaped from Canadian law enforcement when they reach U.S. waters may soon be in for a surprise.

Since August, under a program called Project Shiprider, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers have occasionally ridden aboard two Coast Guard vessels and Coast Guard personnel have sometimes been on two Canadian enforcement boats in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and other inland waters.

Under the agreement, boats that authorities believe are being used for smuggling may be stopped and those aboard can be arrested regardless of where they are in the waters between the southern end of Vancouver Island, B.C., or Washington state.

The project resulted from U.S.-Canadian talks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Coast Guard spokesman Shawn Eggert said.

The program has resulted in some boardings but no arrests, Eggert said.

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