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Things Like This Wouldn't Happen If It Were Legal To Purchase Pot From Government Approved Distributors In The Same Manner As Liquor
March 4/04 CTV
Teen arrested for smuggling pot on a school bus
CTV.ca News Staff
A Washington state high school student has been charged with cross-border drug smuggling, after authorities caught her riding the school bus with a backpack stuffed with B.C. marijuana.
The 16-year-old lives in Point Roberts and goes to school in nearby Blaine, Washington. But travelling between her home in the small northwestern tip of the state and school means a bus ride that crosses the Canadian border twice each way.
Every day, some 90 students take the buses without incident.
Because of the usually routine nature of the journey, the buses speed through a special lane at the border reserved for commuters who have already passed security screening.
Vehicles using the express lane are typically subjected to little more than a cursory inspection by customs officials.
But a few weeks ago, a parent relayed rumours that someone was exploiting the route to smuggle drugs, sending the Blaine School District and its bus drivers into high-alert.
On Feb. 20, U.S. customs agents boarded the bus to make an arrest -- a 16-year-old girl caught with more than three kilograms of 'B.C. bud' stuffed in her book bag.
Student Matt Determan was on the bus when it happened.
"The border patrol and some police came on the bus and went right to her, they knew exactly who it was," he said.
Blaine High School principal Dan Newell said that news of the bust has left him reeling.
"I would have not thought in my wildest dreams that they would have used a school transportation vehicle to do it," he told The Associated Press. "I just thought it was too big of a chance, they were too vulnerable to being caught."
Although federal agents have refused to discuss what they call an "ongoing investigation", they stopped short of suggesting the bust hints at a flourishing drug ring.
County prosecutors do believe, however, this is not the first time the accused teen allegedly smuggled drugs along the cross-border route.
She reportedly told them she had been paid by Canadian drug dealers to spirit the marijuana across the border.
Investigators are now talking to students and parents in the hopes of determining how widespread the activity is and how long it has been going on.