Big B.C. bud bust
By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

U.S. federal agents seized $1.6 million US worth of Canadian-grown pot when a semi-trailer was inspected at a border crossing south of Winnipeg last weekend.

Agents at the Pembina, N.D., port of entry found 555 pounds of marijuana -- contained in 488 vacuum-packed bags -- hidden under the floorboards of the trailer, said Mike Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"A seizure of this size really hurts whoever is involved in the smuggling of it," Milne said yesterday from Seattle, Wash.

He said it is believed the highly-potent "B.C. bud" variety was hydroponically grown north of the border.

The bust happened Saturday at 9 p.m. and is the third largest at a North Dakota port of entry. Emerson, Man., is on the Canadian side of the crossing.

Agents made the discovery when they used a gamma-ray imaging machine, similar to an X-ray, to scan the supposedly empty trailer.

"They saw an anomaly. Something looked funny in the floorboards," Milne said.

Authorities removed the boards, revealing the not-so-secret compartment where the pot was concealed.

No one has been charged. The driver is a Canadian citizen, but authorities will not reveal additional information about him or his employer because he has not been implicated. He was questioned and released.

It appears he was unaware the pot was in the trailer, but the investigation is ongoing, Milne said. The tractor-trailer unit, valued at $34,000, was seized.

Milne said agents are trying to find out who grew the pot and where, and who was to receive it.

Drug traffickers can earn up to $6,000 US for a pound of marijuana in some U.S. markets, Milne said.

The largest drug seizure at a North Dakota crossing was in 2003 in Portal, opposite North Portal, Sask.

PEAT MOSS

About 1,235 pounds of marijuana, valued at $3.7 million US, was stuffed in cardboard boxes and duffel bags hidden in a shipment of peat moss and planting soil, Milne said.

Last May, agents at the Pembina crossing made the second-largest bust when they found 584 pounds of pot in the walls of a semi-trailer, Milne said.

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