Busy year for U.S. customs in Seattle

Border protection agency made 1,792 arrests, seized 13,000 pounds of illegal drugs

By Stuart Hunter,
The ProvinceJ
anuary 3, 2010

It has been a busy year for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Seattle Field Office.

The border agency's 1,556 officers and 123 agriculture specialists welcomed more than 19.7 million travellers to the U.S. during the 2009 fiscal year -- making 1,792 arrests, discovering about $4.5 million US in smuggled currency and seizing around 13,000 pounds of illegal drugs.

The field office, which manages 67 ports of entry from the Pacific Ocean east across Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota to Grand Portage on Lake Superior, monitored 1.1 million commercial trucks, 2.7 million goods containers, 7.69 million vehicles, 13,000 trains, 16,000 international aircraft, as well as 31,000 vessels, ferries and pleasure craft.

"In another year of both challenges and changes, CBP continues to bear the great privilege and responsibility of maintaining vigilance at our nation's borders," said Seattle director Michele James said in a news release. "We are extremely proud of the role our agency performs in facilitating the flow of legitimate international travel and trade while safeguarding the homeland from threats abroad."

Overseeing the entrance of about 13 million foreign nationals into the U.S., CBP officers refused entry to more than 9,400 aliens deemed inadmissible. Some 260 aliens with criminal histor ies were processed for expedited removal and returned directly to the country of origin.

Seizing prohibited, unlawful or undeclared goods also kept officers busy. In Seattle, they seized 499 cartons of toy jewelry from China, valued at more than $48,000, because it contained unacceptable levels of lead.

Officers in Sumas, Wash., found 1,746 pounds of "B. C. Bud" worth more than $6 million, concealed in the trailer floors of a commercial beef-hauling truck.

The Seattle office also completed the congressionally mandated Olympic Coordination Center in Bellingham, Wash.

The centre will "co-ordinate and synchronize federal, tribal, state, local and Canadian security partners and resources in order to provide a safe, secure Washington state and northern border during the Olympics and related events," according to the new release.

The centre's readiness was tested during the World Police and Fire Games held in August in Vancouver.

CBP also worked against agroterrorism, intercepting Asian gypsy moths, Khapra beetles and exotic snails.

shunter@theprovince.com

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