Border officers busy in May
Canada has more than its share of bad guys without letting more in from the United States.
Fortunately, Alberta border officers are working hard to keep the criminals out, and last month prevented several of them from entering the province.
According to statistics released by the Canada Border Services Agency, officers at the Coutts border refused to allow five U.S. travellers into Canada in May because of extensive criminal convictions. The convictions included robbery, burglary of a vehicle, and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
At the Carway crossing south of Cardston, officers refused entry to a man convicted of false imprisonment and endangering an aircraft, and to a man who had been charged with impaired driving just three days earlier.
At the Wild Horse port of entry officers refused to allow into Canada a registered sex offender convicted of gross sexual imposition, and they arrested a returning Canadian resident May 21 for refusing to provide a breath sample. The accused was turned over to the RCMP.
Officials also seized a couple of undeclared guns at the Coutts crossing. On May 2, they discovered a restricted .44-calibre revolver while searching a pickup truck and cargo trailer. Herschel Box, 59, of Texas is charged with two counts under the Customs Act and two counts under the Criminal Code, and is scheduled to appear in Lethbridge provincial court Wednesday.
Less than a week later, officers uncovered a .45-calibre pistol in an Arizona man’s sport utility vehicle. The gun was behind the driver’s seat in a silver briefcase, which also contained unreported U.S. currency worth more than Cdn $23,000. The man, who was not allowed into Alberta, paid a $1,000 penalty for failing to declare the handgun, which was seized, and $250 for the return of the undeclared currency.
Several Albertans were also penalized for trying to deceive border officers when they brought horses into Canada.
On May 18, a woman declared a horse for US $15,000, but officers found she had actually paid US $40,000 and failed to declare the trailer she was towing, purchased for US $12,000. She had attempted to evade nearly $2,400 in goods and services tax, and officers fined her $21,600.
That same day, another woman importing a horse failed to declare a horse therapy machine she had purchased for more than US $15,000. She was fined $4,850. And on May 21, another woman said she was returning with a Canadian horse, but officers discovered she had actually purchased the horse, worth $10,000, in the U.S. She was fined $4,000.