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OTTAWA — A lack of information about private vessels that ply the waters between Canada and the United States is hampering efforts to thwart cross-border smugglers, warns a newly declassified intelligence report.
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.
A boat from the U.S. Coast Guard Station Niagara patrols Lake Ontario near Youngstown, New York, in this 2006 file photo. (REUTERS/Mike Groll)
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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.
Recreational vessels pose the “principal threat” in the marine stretches policed by enforcement teams, the report says.
Numerous commercial and recreational vessels operate on the Great Lakes, in the St. Lawrence Seaway and along the East and West Coasts.
Threats include the smuggling of alcohol, currency, drugs, firearms, people and tobacco, the report says. Stowaways aboard ships and wayward crew members are also a concern.
“Along the St. Lawrence River there are areas where a smuggler can travel between Canada and the U.S. in just a few seconds.”
In winter, snow and ice can make it easier to traverse border waters, opening passage to airboats, snowmobiles, other vehicles and people on foot.
The report says about 4.6 million registered, private American watercraft and a million such Canadian vessels operate in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway region. Another 100,000 recreational boats have access to the Pacific marine border.
However, for many years such registrations were not recorded in computer databases, meaning the total number is unknown.
“The lack of accurate pleasure-craft registration data in electronic format in Canada is an obstacle to the identification of owners and/or the number of vessels operating in the waterways to determine potential cross-border criminal activity,” the report says.
RCMP Supt. Warren Coons, director of the border enforcement program, said more information could help officers zero in on vessel operators of concern.
“I think the biggest issue, to be frank with you, is the sheer volume,” he said in an interview.
“You have to have the intelligence in advance to determine which one you should be looking at.”
Among the other challenges underscored in the report:
• Unguarded and unstaffed border crossings are “vulnerabilities” in several regions.
• Rail containers leaving Canada for the United States are checked at the border but are not typically examined upon entry into Canada.
• Smugglers are using “progressively more sophisticated” methods — including high-tech tools, camouflage clothing, decoy vehicles and counter-surveillance tactics.
Some criminals employ geo-positioning devices to monitor the progress of a courier or hidden contraband package. If the smuggler or item is not where it's supposed to be at a given time, it alerts the schemers that something may have gone awry.
“That's the kind of thing that we see now that, obviously, just a few years ago didn't exist and therefore wasn't something that we had to contend with,” Coons said. “It's just the changing times right now in terms of technology.”
