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Canadian, U.S. Officials Follow Plane Along Border.
By admin | October 9, 2004
CP
October 9, 2004
Mounties on horseback joined a full-scale aerial and ground search in the Princeton area Friday, looking for bags of marijuana
They suspect were tossed from a light plane that crash-landed near Keremeos 240 kilometres east of Vancouver.
Members of the RCMP’s Integrated Border Enforcement Team, with assistance from the detachment at Princeton detachment, continued to scour the area after two bags of pot were discovered along the plane’s flight path.
Corp. Howard Hallett said searchers in the area have now found “a large quantity” of marijuana in the area.
Hallett declined to reveal the exact location of the search efforts, to lessen the chance of possible interference from the public.
Authorities were first alerted Tuesday afternoon after a light plane left the Chilliwack Airport and headed along the U.S. border.
“The aircraft was under surveillance the entire time, including by American authorities,” Hallett said. “They have a program in the States where they have retired military pilots that fly smaller planes along the border.”
The suspect plane was spotted crossing into U.S. airspace and back over B.C. at several locations in the Fraser Valley and elsewhere.
U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents followed the plane in another aircraft when it entered U.S. airspace after taking off from the Princeton airport, said Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers.
The plane, a single-seat Bellanca Citabria, re-entered Canadian airspace and ran out of fuel near Keremeos, crash-landing in a field next to Highway 3.
The planes door, which had been removed prior to the crash, was discovered on the ground at the Princeton airport.
The pilot was not seriously hurt and was taken by a passing motorist into Keremeos where he was later arrested by RCMP.
The 57-year-old man was held in police custody in Osoyoos about 24 hours before being released Wednesday afternoon. Charges are pending.
The suspect’s name has not been released.
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