Hella Angel motorcycle gangs have set up an intricate network to smuggle marijuana, counterfeit goods and guns into the US.

Hella Angel motorcycle gangs have set up an intricate network to smuggle marijuana, counterfeit goods and guns into the US. But according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), there are fears that criminals could use their network to smuggle terrorists across. Sergeant Brian Brasnett is a senior RCMP border investigator. He believes it would be naive to think the gangs would draw a moral line as to what they transport.
RCMP's Brian Brasnett says aircraft can make illicit drops in minutes "We would hope they don't stoop to the level of dealing in terrorism," he says.
"But it's all about making money and moving a product so that's where we have to concentrate our enforcement efforts." He showed me an example of the real danger. Three years ago, US and Canadian investigators discovered a tunnel dug 8ft (2.4m) beneath the ground and stretching more than 330ft (100m). It ran from a large garden hut on the Canadian side under the road and ditch that divides the two countries into the basement of a private house on the US side. "It was 4ft by 4ft ...with a cart to transport contraband", says Sgt Brasnett. "There would have been a fee for prospective customers who wanted to use it." The US-Canada border runs for more than 5,000 miles (8,000km) through some of the remotest areas in the world. It's often marked simply by a line cut in scrubland or a small obelisk. One of the busiest border crossings is one the main highway between the west coast cities of Vancouver and Seattle. A motto on an arch there proclaims that the two countries are "Children of a common mother" and "May these gates never close."
Even so, since 9/11, the US has been building what it describes as a "virtual fence" with an array of gadgetry that ranges from radiation detectors for nuclear weapons, to seismic sensors to catch people illegally sneaking across and number plate recognition so that immigration officers know pretty much who you are before you pull up at the booth. "We ask ourselves, is this person truly who they are," explains Tom Schreiber of the US Immigration and Customs Service. Does this person match a recent intelligence look-at that I need to be aware of?" Billions of dollars of contraband cross the border from Canada every year. It's been found in container trucks, ships and in canvas bags strapped to the skids of helicopters. "They can fly as low as 500ft through the valleys straight down into the United States undetected," says Brian Brasnett. "Sometimes on a flight that only lasts 10 minutes and vehicles are waiting there ready to pick it up."