U.S. AGENTS SHADOW, THEN NAB AIRBORNE B.C. POT SMUGGLERS

Two B.C.-bud smugglers underestimated just how security-conscious Americans
are now.

The pair tried to sneak up to 180 kilograms of the high-grade pot into
California by flying it down to the airport in Redding, which is hosting an
air show this weekend, figuring no one would notice an extra airplane.

Vincent Bond, a U.S. Customs Service public information officer in San
Diego, said agents were alerted to the plane by a customs radar
co-ordination centre in Riverside, Calif., that tracks air traffic
throughout the hemisphere.

"They have extensive databases. They can track a plane's historical flight
plans or just covertly watch for when the flaps and gear go down and
project where they will be landing," he said.

Once agents determined that the pilot of the twin-engine Piper Aerostar had
not filed a flight plan or cleared customs, they sprang into action.

As soon as the plane was spotted on radar, an "eye in the sky" was watching
it. Agents identified the aircraft, and covert patrol planes
surreptitiously followed it from where it crossed the Canada-U.S. border to
Redding.

"They land first, and ours are right behind them," Bond said.

Redding's tower was notified of the operation just before it happened, and
the government aircraft were quickly given clearance to land.

Guns drawn and crouching low, customs agents leapt from a helicopter and a
small plane as soon as they touched down.

As they jumped from their aircraft with MP5 automatic weapons and sawed-off
shotguns, the agents did not know whether they were chasing terrorists,
drug smugglers or someone who had simply broken the law by failing to file
a flight plan and clear customs when crossing the border.

Dozens of volunteers setting up this weekend's Redding Air Show watched the
action, unsure if it was a drill or the real thing.

The two government planes and helicopter stopped on a taxiway that had been
blocked off for the air show, said Pat Wallner, a Redding plumbing
contractor and air-show volunteer.

"A twin-engine taxied through the taxiway, then another twin, then the
hatch opened on the second plane and three or four guys in black suits with
weapons jumped out," Wallner said.

"They were crouching, running one at a time" toward the rows of hangars
where the Piper was parking, Wallner said.

Minutes later the agents arrested the two Canadian citizens in the
burgundy-and-white twin-engine aircraft and began hauling marijuana-laden
duffel bags from it.

Bond said he could not identify the men, though he gave their ages as about
61 and 27.

Agents found from 150 to 180 kilograms of packaged B.C. bud, which sells in
the U.S. for more than $10,000 US a kilo, stuffed into black duffel bags
loaded inside the Piper. The drugs had an estimated total value of about $2
million US.