Since Canadian government (same one we just re-elected - in one day) closed
down the ONLY army base in British Columbia, our soldiers now have to go to
Fort Lewis and Yakima in Washington, or to Alberta, to train. As a result,
quite a few trucks make border crossings.
A little while ago, US Customs in Washington State intercepted two Canadian
Army trucks (still on active service) full of duffel bags of BC grown
marijuana. One driver was a Sgt. in the local 12 Service Battalion, and a
civilian friend of his also wore a uniform to drive the other truck. They
claimed they were going down to recover a broken down Canadian army vehicle.
One truck was German design, the other was Italian design. Hmmmm.
Customs then dressed in these people's uniforms, refuelled the truck(s) and
carried on to the rendezvous with the US drug receivers, and then arrested
them.
The trucks were returned to Her Majesty a week or two later - with MORE fuel
in them that when they had left. Thank you US Customs!
The two 'suspects' are facing MANY charges in the USA and no doubt "Her
Majesty" is royally p____d off at them and the Canadian Army will have a
whole slew of charges lined up for the Sgt. once (if ever) he gets back to
Canada.
You can bet that this story had been circulated to all US Customs agents, so
don't be surprised to be inspected when crossing the border if crossing in
an army truck. The Customs people are just doing their job. Of course, plan
to go through during nice weather, so that when you end up face down on the
ground, that your face does not stick to the ice (if in mid-winter) or to
the melted asphalt (if in mid-summer)! :-)
Remember folks that REAL army trucks (i.e. currently serving) are rusty and
dented, and cobbled together. The perfect looking and running trucks are
privately owned and restored! .... But Customs don't know that. They assume
the neat looking trucks must be current issue and vice versa. :-)
Colin Macgregor Stevens
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor: "Maple Leaf Up!" newsletter
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
(Established 1977)
British Columbia, CANADA
Owner of:
1944 Willys MB jeep (ex-Norway)
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
colin@pacdat.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Bernstein" <kbernste@us.ibm.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 6:06 AM
Subject: [MV] A Word to the Wise
> I recently went up to Quebec for some farm equipment
> with our M35 Big Mike, and coming home, I was wondering
> whether customs was letting me back in.
> Things got touchy when I refused command to shut engine
> down, that I needed to let the turbo cool down. Cargo Cover
> + curtains raised suspicions right from the get-go.
> Important with this truck to carry ALL the paperwork - bill of sale,
> registration, insurance, etc...it saved me. Anticipate at least 30
minutes.
>
> Glad they're doing their job, however.
>
> Kerry Bernstein
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 23:13:20 PST