Pubdate: Mon, 26 Mar 2012
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Cassidy Olivier

THE INNS & OUTS OF SMUGGLING

Owner of B&B Sees Illegal Border Activity From His Front Porch

The three green and white government SUVs parked nearby and the 
surveillance camera perched atop a 50-foot pole are the first 
tip-offs that the Smuggler's Inn in Blaine, Wash., may cater to a 
more notorious clientele than simple adventure-seeking tourists.

Five minutes and five stories later, it becomes obvious why owner Bob 
Boule likes to play up his Victorian-style bed and breakfast as a 
Prohibition era hangout for bootleggers, complete with rooms named 
after famous gangsters.

If crossing into B.C. with a duffle bag full of cocaine is your goal, 
it doesn't get much easier: Take a few steps down Mr. Boule's 
backyard, cross Zero Avenue, and you're in Canada.

And people have certainly tried.

Last week, the media reported on the unlucky smuggler who got busted 
by U.S. Homeland Security agents after pulling up at the Smuggler's 
Inn in a black SUV bearing the licence plate SMUGLER.

The SUV belongs to Mr. Boule and is used to chauffeur guests.

According to court documents, Jasmin Klair, a British Columbian, 
became "nervous" and "agitated" when border agents, tipped off about 
a possible smuggling operation, questioned her on Mr. Boule's lawn 
last December. She was later found to be in possession of 10 
kilograms of cocaine.

Ms. Klair played ball with investigators and kept in contact with two 
other men involved in the ill-fated plan, who were arrested later 
that night when they crossed over onto the U.S. side in search of the drugs.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dozens of 
crossings Mr. Boule says he has witnessed from the comfort of his 
front porch since opening for business back in 2003. And it's not 
just people trying to get a slice of the billion-dollar drug pie.

"There are very few days when you don't see three [crossings] in a 
row," Mr. Boule says, Greek fisherman's cap firmly on head. "There 
have been so many of them."

Like the time he was having coffee on his porch and a truck drove 
down through his yard onto Zero Avenue and then zipped away. He 
suspects the truck was loaded with what Hollywood coke king Tony 
Montana referred to as the Yayo.

It's also quite common, he adds, to have guests suddenly disappear 
during their stay. And then there are, of course, the strange phone 
calls inquiring about a different kind of smuggling.

"They'll say, 'We want you to smuggle someone into Canada,'" he says. 
"And I say, 'That's not what we do.' "

Then, there are the downright silly cases, such as the teacher who 
was staying with them who had too much to drink one night.

"She flipped off the border patrol and then ran to the Canadian 
side," says Mr. Boule. "Then the RCMP came and she had to decide 
[which side would punish her]. She came back and got a felony from 
border patrol."

While some of the stories are delivered with a bit of wink-wink, 
nudge-nudge, there are documented attempted-smuggling cases that lend 
authenticity to the inn's name.

Last year, Maleek James, 35, of Tacoma, Wash., was convicted on 
multiple drug charges for his part in smuggling 26 kilograms of 
ecstasy from Canada across the U.S. border. The pickup spot for the 
drugs was near the Smuggler's Inn.

The previous year, U.S. authorities busted Surrey, B.C., resident 
Shah Waliullah, 32, who was destined for the Smuggler's Inn in 
possession of nine kilograms of cocaine.

Surrey resident Gurmit Singh Jassal, 31, was arrested in 2008 after 
authorities spotted him crossing the border on foot and heading to 
the Smuggler's Inn. His luggage included four duffel bags full of pot 
and ecstasy.

And in 2004, border patrol agents busted a Surrey cab driver who had 
been staying at the inn for allegedly facilitating an immigration run 
from Canada into the United States.

U.S. authorities wouldn't comment specifically on the inn or the 
number of illegal crossings in a particular area.

Border Patrol authorities responsible for the Blaine Sector, however, 
said they arrested 591 people trying to illegally enter the U.S. 
during the last fiscal year.

In terms of drug seizures, 20 kilograms of B.C. marijuana, 42 
kilograms of cocaine and about 312 grams of heroin were confiscated 
by border patrol officers over that same period. And that's only a 
fraction of what some think gets through.

Mr. Boule says he makes sure his guests know about all this smuggling 
activity when bunking down for the night. In fact, he says, he 
supplies them with a pair of nightvision goggles should they want to 
try their luck at sighting a smuggler.

Every once in a while, he'll get an excited guest swearing they've 
just witnessed an illegal crossing.

"But 99% of the time, it's the agents they see going through the 
yard," he says.

Mr. Boule maintains a good relationship with the various government 
agents monitoring the border 24 hours a day. Border Patrol agents 
have access to the inn's books and it is not uncommon for them to 
call Mr. Boule directly if a guest's licence plates "don't fit" his 
family-oriented bed and breakfast.

While he plays up the nefarious activities that do go on, Mr. Boule 
says his business is in reality geared toward those walking the 
straight and narrow.

Weddings, family reunions and banquets are just some of the events 
held on his 2.5 acre property. The inn is also the perfect meeting 
spot for cross-border couples or families where one member isn't 
allowed into the other's country, he says.

He says there have only been a few times in the past 10 years that 
he's had to turn people away because he suspected they had less than 
honest motives.

"Most guests are just that - guests," he says. "You would go crazy if 
you tried to second-guess people all the time on whether they have 
ulterior motives."

As for living under the gaze of border patrol authorities - in 
addition to the mounted camera, there are sensor platforms at his 
lawn's edge where it nears the border - Mr. Boule says he has no 
plans to move on.

If only they'd lighten up a little when he's mowing his lawn, a feat 
that requires him to cross over just a little bit onto the Canadian side.

"About 30 times a year, we get a helicopter watching us mow the 
lawn," he says. "They [border patrol] have no sense of humour at all."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom