Inside ICE: Volume 3, Issue 4

United States, Canada Announce Results of Operation Frozen Timber

BELLINGHAM, Wash.—Calling it one of the most brazen criminal schemes ever uncovered along the U.S.-Canada border, authorities from the two countries recently unveiled the results of a multiagency operation targeting a network of smuggling organizations that used aircraft to ferry tons of drugs across the border, dropping many of the loads in broad daylight at remote wooded locations in Washington and British Columbia.

At a news conference at ICE headquarters, Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, United States Attorney John McKay, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Chief Superintendent Bud Mercer outlined details of a nearly two-year ICE-led enforcement effort called Operation Frozen Timber. ICE and the RCMP worked closely with agencies from both nations on the operation, including the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the National Parks Service, the Washington State Patrol, the United States Attorney’s Offices in Seattle and Spokane, the DEA, the FBI, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Sheriff’s Departments of Whatcom, Skagit, and Okanogan (Wash.) counties, and the Abbotsford (Wash.) Police Department.

Since the investigation began in November 2004, the United States Attorneys’ Offices in Seattle and Spokane have issued 45 indictments in connection with the case, resulting in more than 40 arrests to date. In Canada, the RCMP has made six related arrests. In total, U.S. and Canadian authorities have seized roughly 8,000 pounds of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, three aircraft, and $1.5 million in U.S. currency.

Authorities say the British Columbia-based smuggling organizations targeted in Operation Frozen Timber used helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to transport drug loads to pre-arranged drop sites on public lands throughout the region, including locations in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Okanogan National Forests, and North Cascades National Park. The network smuggled high-grade Canadian grown marijuana into the United States and cocaine into Canada.

During the course of Operation Frozen Timber, U.S. and Canadian enforcement teams intercepted more than 17 drug loads, including one shipment in February 2005 involving five suitcases packed with 149 kilograms of cocaine that constituted the largest single cocaine seizure in the state of Washington last year.

Authorities say the defendants planned to use a helicopter to smuggle the cocaine from a landing site in the Okanogan National Forest to British Columbia. Another significant seizure in the case came in September 2005, when agents followed two courier vehicles to a Puyallup residence and recovered more than 1,100 pounds of marijuana.

Intelligence gathered during Operation Frozen Timber revealed there were several independent aerial smuggling cells that essentially subcontracted their services to other criminal organizations seeking to ferry drugs between the two countries. Investigators believe a number of the defendants in the case provided smuggling services to multiple criminal organizations.

Authorities say the public safety concerns associated with the smuggling scheme extend beyond the implications for border security. Several of the Canadian pilots linked to the plot were not licensed to fly in the United States or Canada. In the last 13 months, at least two helicopters allegedly linked to the network have crashed, resulting in three deaths.

Operation Frozen Timber was conducted under the auspices of the Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET), a multi-agency law enforcement team comprised of representatives from Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies. Members of the IBET work together with local, state, and provincial enforcement agencies to target cross-border criminal activity, including investigations involving national security and organized crime.

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United States, Canada Announce Results of Operation Frozen Timber

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