Tag: smuggling

People smuggling to Canada from U.S. increasing | Calgary Herald

By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press November 19, 2013

OTTAWA – Smugglers were caught trying to slip dramatically more people into Canada in 2011 over the previous year at largely unguarded points along the border with the United States, says a newly declassified report.

Authorities apprehended 487 people as smugglers attempted to sneak them into Canada at remote locales, up from 308 in 2010, says the binational report on border security.

At the same time, the number of people nabbed while being spirited into the United States from Canada fell slightly during the same period to 360 from 376.

The figures on smuggling between official ports of entry appear in the 2012 Integrated Border Enforcement Team threat assessment report, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The report indicates that stronger enforcement may partly account for the increase in arrests, but adds there is concern that “a significant portion” is the result of “a surge in human smuggling activity.”

 

Full story: People smuggling to Canada from U.S. increasing, says binational threat report.

Scuba diver busted after trying to swim marijuana to U.S. | CBC News

A Canadian scuba diver has been arrested by U.S. authorities after swimming across the St. Clair River with about 3.6 kilograms of marijuana stuffed in a waterproofed piece of pipe.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said that a boater spotted a swimmer in the river around 1 a.m. on Monday. The boater contacted local police, saying they had spotted someone who appeared to be swimming toward the U.S. side of the river.

Full story: Scuba diver busted after trying to swim marijuana to U.S. – Canada – CBC News.

Federal budget cuts could hurt border agency’s fight against gun smuggling, MP says | Toronto Star

In the news: Federal budget cuts could hurt border agency’s fight against gun smuggling, MP says | Toronto Star.

OTTAWA—Front-line border officers are confiscating fewer guns than they did a decade ago and ongoing budget cuts could make it even harder to stem the tide of illegal firearms onto Toronto streets, a New Democrat MP says.

The Conservative government, which has made law-and-order the central plank of its agenda, is being pressed to do more to combat the smuggling of handguns to Canada from the United States.

“The proliferation is enormous . . . they’re used in crimes. They’re used by youth,” NDP MP Mike Sullivan said Friday.

Full story.

Toronto gets new U.S. special agent, targeting gun smuggling – thestar.com

In the news: Toronto gets new U.S. special agent, targeting gun smuggling – thestar.com.

When a bullet kills or harms someone in Toronto, one of the first questions asked is where the gun came from.

If the weapon is thought to be American, a Toronto-based U.S. special agent pairs Canadian police with U.S. authorities to discern how it got here.

For the past seven years, that agent was Regina Lombardo, who opened Toronto’s office in 2005. This month, a new agent took her place with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which has the authority to get U.S. firearm makers to provide sales records.

Lombardo arrived here shortly after the Summer of the Gun. Her replacement, Special Agent Peter Forcelli, also arrived months after high-profile gunfire on the Toronto streets.

“There’s been a lot of rival gang activity happening this past summer,” Lombardo said in an interview at the U.S. Consulate, where she was based. “If they are U.S.-sourced weapons, that’s where our involvement comes in.”

Toronto police have said 70 per cent of guns seized after crimes were smuggled from the U.S.

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