The three men who tunnelled under the U.S.-Canada border in Langley have received a tough nine-year prison sentence.

The term will be served in an American prison. All three Surrey men were arrested when they emerged from the tunnel's south side, following a cross-border investigation.

The sentence imposed on Francis Devandra Raj, 31, Timothy Woo, 35, and Jonathan Valenzuela, 28, was almost twice the term sought by defence lawyers in the case, said Emily Langley of the United States Attorney's Office.

The lengthy sentence was partly due to the tunnel's potential threat to national security. Anything from people to weapons could have been moved through the secret passageway.

The 110-metre tunnel was discovered during construction last summer, when sharp-eyed border guards saw materials going into, and dirt coming out of, a quonset hut on the Canadian side near 264th St.

The three men built the tunnel using more than a thousand 2x6 wood supports. It was ventilated and equipped with electrical lights.

They were planning to run marijuana through the tunnel, avoiding border patrols and police.

However, police had searched the properties secretly before the tunnel was even finished. All three men were arrested at the end of an early drug transportation run. The tunnel was revealed to the public on July 20.

The Township spent $30,000 filling in its end of the tunnel, but managed to recover the costs later.

It is the only tunnel ever discovered under the U.S.-Canadian border. Several have been found under America's border with Mexico.
MAP posted-by: Derek

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n946/a08.html
Newshawk: Educators For Sensible Drug Policy: http://www.efsdp.org
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source: Langley Advance (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact: editorial@langleyadvance.com
Website: http://www.langleyadvance.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1248
Author: Matthew Claxton