Pubdate: Sun, 25 Mar 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Cassidy Olivier

INN NOT EXACTLY SMUGGLERS' PARADISE

Despite Its Name, Bob Boule's Border Town B&B Is Family-Oriented and 
Crawling With Heat

The three green and-white government SUVs parked nearby and the 
surveillance camera perched atop a 15-metre pole are the first 
tip-off that the Smuggler's Inn may cater to a more notorious 
clientele than 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 duffel bag full of cocaine is your 
purpose, then it doesn't get much easier than this. Take a few steps 
across Boule's backyard, cross Zero Avenue, and you're in Canada.

And people have certainly tried. Last week, the media had a field day 
reporting on the unlucky smuggler who got busted by Homeland Security 
agents after pulling up at the Smuggler's Inn in a black SUV bearing 
the licence plate SMUGLER.

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

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

Klair played ball with investigators and kept in contact with two men 
involved in the ill-fated plan, who were arrested later that night.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dozens of 
crossings Boule says he has witnessed from the comfort of his porch 
since opening for business 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," Boule says. "There have been so many of them."

It's quite common, he adds, to have guests suddenly disappear during 
their stay. And then there are 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'd had too much to drink one night.

"She flipped off [gave the finger to] the border patrol and then ran 
to the Canadian side," says 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 drug 
charges for his part in smuggling 26 kg of ecstasy from Canada to the 
U.S. The pickup spot for the drugs was near the Smuggler's Inn.

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

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

However, border patrol authorities responsible for the Blaine sector 
said they arrested 591 people trying to illegally enter the U.S. 
during the past fiscal year.

In terms of drug seizures, 20 kg of B.C. bud, 42 kg 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.

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 night-vision 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 per cent of the time, it's the agents they see going through 
the yard," he says.

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

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

He says there have only been a few times he's had to turn people away 
because he suspected they had less than-honest motives.

As for living under the gaze of border patrol authorities, Boule says 
he'd like them to lighten up a little when he's mowing his lawn, a 
feat that requires him to cross over just a little bit on to 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