Organized Crime at Marine Ports, Airports and Land Border Areas
 

Introduction

Organized crime exploits any potential conduit to move illicit commodities from source or transit countries to their illegal consumer markets in Canada, in particular marine ports, airports or across land border areas. Illicit commodities are either concealed within the large volume of legitimate commercial and traveler movement entering through designated customs entry points or smuggled surreptitiously through the vast stretches of lesscontrolled border areas. At marine ports and airports, the movement of contraband is sometimes facilitated by criminal elements that have infiltrated their workforces.

Organized crime exploits all means of entry into Canada to smuggle contraband and people into Canada and has significant social and economic impacts on Canadian society. The flow of illicit drugs into the country contributes to property crimes, violence including domestic disputes, assaults and homicides, and is related to adverse health effects such as addiction and the spread of infectious diseases. Some types of contraband, such as illegal tobacco and alcohol, result in a loss of tax revenue that could help fund health and social programs. Counterfeit goods from foreign sources can cause serious health and safety concerns because of incorrect or non-existent legal restrictions or regulations. As well, the smuggling and distribution of contraband can contribute to the corruption of public or private sector officials and professionals. The number of adverse effects requires law enforcement to allocate significant resources to monitor border areas in attempts to combat the illegal movement of contraband and migrants.

Marine Ports

In 1998, the CISC Annual Report first reviewed the threat of organized crime at Canada’s marine ports. Marine ports continue to be used by organized crime groups to move a wide range of illicit commodities both into Canada for domestic distribution and exported for international consumers. Most types of illicit drugs have been seized at marine ports, particularly cocaine, heroin, hashish and ecstasy. In addition, other forms of contraband, such as tobacco, alcohol and firearms, as well as smuggled humans, have been encountered. High-value stolen vehicles are illegally exported to foreign consumers in eastern Europe and Asia.

There are various components to marine movement that may be exploited by criminal groups including: commercial container movement, commercial general cargo and bulk shipments, roll-on-roll-off vessels,⁴ cruise ships, fishing vessels, private personal vessels, and crew members of vessels. Marine containers are the favoured medium in the international movement of most types of commercial goods and consequently are particularly exploited by organized crime to conceal and transport contraband.

In some cases, contraband is moved as part of the normal commercial marine movement and is assisted by false information on importation documents to obstruct enforcement scrutiny. The shipment may move through the port environment unassisted by any criminal conspirator within the marine port, be delivered through the legitimate transportation system across Canada and then be subsequently diverted to the intended crime group.

A significant component of the threat at marine ports is a criminal strategy of either the placement of criminal associates within the port environment or the corruption of current members of the port work force. The criminal presence within a port workforce may only involve a small number of individuals who attempt to conceal criminal activity from their co-workers. These criminal conspirators are usually employed in positions that allow access to port information and the movement of commercial cargo from the vessels and through the port environment. In some instances, the conspirators extract contraband from marine containers prior to enforcement inspection, while in other instances containers may disappear.

All marine ports that receive international shipping are potentially vulnerable to criminal exploitation; however, this situation has been particularly identified at the three largest marine container ports of Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax. The most significant criminal influences within the marine ports are linked to the HELLS ANGELS, Traditional (Italian-based) organized crime groups and independent domestic crime groups. Independent crime groups are not necessarily affiliated to any of the more established crime groups and usually act as facilitators in the movement of contraband. These groups are usually entrepreneurial and will offer their services to any criminal client for a fee.

Across Canada, law enforcement continues to examine all marine ports to determine levels of criminality that either exist or could potentially develop. In some instances, criminality connected to specific ports has been clearly identified. At the Port of Vancouver, sectors of the workforce have been infiltrated by a small number of criminal elements, including some members and associates of the HELLS ANGELS, as well as other independent criminal operators. The port is being exploited to move illicit commodities into Canada as made evident by law enforcement seizures during 2003 including several incidents involving counterfeit products, in particular Canadian-brand cigarettes, and illicit drugs such as an 18-kilogram seizure of opium in December. In Ontario, there are numerous marine ports located within the Great Lakes System that are at potential risk for criminal exploitation as they are situated near areas of major organized crime groups, particularly Traditional (Italian-based) crime groups, Asian-based organized crime groups and the HELLS ANGELS.

In Quebec, there are a number of marine ports along the St. Lawrence that are vulnerable to organized crime, in particular the Port of Montreal. The port continues to be exploited to move contraband into Canada as is evident by a December 2003 seizure of approximately 269 kilograms of powdered ecstasy discovered in a container arriving from Antwerp, Belgium that was declared to be potato starch.

In the Atlantic provinces, the Ports of Saint John and Halifax have been connected in the past to smuggling attempts. In 2002, law enforcement disrupted a significant crime group operating at the Port of Halifax. However, it did not deter the continued exploitation of the port as is evident by the interception of 11.5 tonnes of hashish in January 2003 and 172 kilograms of cocaine in March 2003.

The RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in conjunction with other federal, provincial and municipal agencies and departments, are tasked to monitor the diverse and massive marine movement into and around Canada. Effective July 1, 2004, marine port security and workforce screening will be enhanced with the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. Currently across Canada, there are integrated enforcement/intelligence units in Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax and Saint John. In addition, the RCMP has National Ports Enforcement Teams (NPETs) that are mandated to investigate federal statute offences.

Airports

Airports, much like marine ports, are also vulnerable to organized crime exploitation as they typically occupy a large physical environment through which moves large numbers of passengers, visitors and cargo that are difficult to monitor. All airports in Canada that receive international flights are targets for organized crime exploitation and have been used as conduits for various types of contraband, particularly illicit drugs; including heroin, cocaine, hash oil, opium and ecstasy. International airports are also used as entry points for illegal migrants using false documents who are often assisted by organized crime groups. Human smuggling is evident at Canada’s three largest international airports: Vancouver International Airport (VIA), Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (PIA) and Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport (PET). Airports are also used domestically by organized crime to transport illicit commodities across Canada.

Illicit drugs have been discovered concealed within air cargo shipments and luggage or secreted on the bodies of travelers. As well, to circumvent enforcement scrutiny, particularly at major international airports, crime groups insert their associates or corrupt employees to assist in smuggling. In some instances, co-conspirators at the originating foreign airport conceal contraband either on the aircraft or within luggage to be surreptitiously retrieved by corrupted airport employees in Canada.

To illustrate the immensity of activity that surrounds international airports and the enforcement complexity, consider Canada’s busiest airport — Toronto’s PIA. It covers 1,792 hectares, handles more than 318,000 tonnes of commercial cargo as well as 13.7 million travelers arriving annually from the United States and other foreign countries and has more than 70,000 on-site workers. Internal employee conspiracies have been detected in the past to facilitate contraband movement. This was reaffirmed by a recent law enforcement seizure in January 2004 of 29 kilograms of hash oil carried by an airport baggage handler. Significant quantities of cocaine and ecstasy have also been interdicted at the airport. In another example, during one day in April 2004, a total of 85 kilograms of cocaine was seized in two incidents.

VIA is Canada’s second busiest airport and is a major destination of international flights from Asia. It has been exploited by Asian-based groups to smuggle both illicit drugs, such as opium and heroin, and people into Canada. Montreal’s PET is exploited by a number of criminal groups. For example, in one investigation, a smuggling scheme was disrupted with the arrest of one airport security officer and the seizure of approximately 14 kilograms of cocaine. Illicit commodities have also been intercepted at other Canadian airports that receive international flights.

CBSA and the RCMP jointly are engaged to combat both the use of airports as conduits of contraband and the exploitation of the airport workforce to facilitate its movement.

Land Border Areas

Canada shares a lengthy land border with the U.S. with enforcement responsibilities shared between the RCMP and the CBSA. CBSA is responsible for the designated customs entry points while the RCMP assumes responsibility for all areas between these entry points. There are Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETs), consisting of members from various U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies, situated along the border between Canada and the U.S. that assist in combating cross-border criminality.

Organized crime uses both the designated land entry points and the vast areas between the customs ports to smuggle commodities and people in both directions between the U.S. and Canada. The exploitation of designated entry points is facilitated by the large volume of commercial and traveler traffic between the two countries through both rail and highway transportation. The border area between B.C. and Washington state is exploited by organized crime groups, such as Vietnamese-based and Eastern European-based groups. In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, organized crime also exploits the land border to move contraband, particularly illicit drugs. The southwestern Ontario border with the U.S. is the focal point of the largest flow of international legitimate commercial and personal traffic. In some instances, illicit drugs have been concealed within commercial shipments facilitated by a small element within the trucking industry that has been corrupted by organized crime.

The illicit products smuggled into Canada from the U.S., in varying quantities each year, include: tobacco, alcohol, firearms, jewelry, illicit drugs, currency and child pornography. These illicit commodities enter Canada across the land border from British Columbia to the Atlantic provinces. Commodities, such as tobacco and alcohol, continue to be favoured smuggled products for illicit markets that avoid the federal and provincial taxes applied to these legally distributed products. Firearms that are easily and legally acquired in the U.S. can then be illegally diverted to criminal groups and individuals in Canada. Cocaine transits the U.S. from South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico and is subsequently smuggled into Canada.In return, illicit drugs, such as marihuana, currency and people are smuggled into the U.S.

The unique geographical locations of some Aboriginal reserves, particularly those near the Canada/U.S. border, have been exploited by Aboriginal-based smuggling groups to smuggle drugs, firearms, tobacco and people between Canada and the U.S. In many instances this illegal movement is conducted on contract for other organized crime groups based in Ontario and Quebec.

⁴ Type of carrier that can transport vehicles, such as commercial trucks, that can be driven on and off the vessel.