see also: in 2008 Fiscal Year in Review Field News Releases:   CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for Baltimore Port of Entry   CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for San Diego Air and Marine Unit   CBP Border Patrol Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for El Paso Sector   CBP Border Patrol Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for Ramey Sector   CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for Arizona Ports of Entry   CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for Midwest Ports of Entry   CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2008 Achievements for Buffalo Area Ports of Entry ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Spokane, Wash. – During fiscal year 2008, which began on October 1, 2007, and concluded on September 30, 2008, the Spokane Sector Border Patrol made significant progress towards securing a 308-mile stretch of border spanning from eastern Washington to Idaho and western Montana, through an increase in manpower, improved operations, and enhancing strong partnerships with the community and fellow law enforcement agencies.

CBP’s Seattle field office maintains constant vigilance to prevent the entry into our nation of terrorists and their weapons while carrying out traditional border enforcement responsibilities across five states and three time zones.

• In FY 2008, the Spokane Sector experienced a welcome increase in staffing levels with the support of the 110th Congress and the Border Patrol’s goal to bolster the number of Border Patrol agents along the U.S./Canada border. More than 35 additional agents entered on duty in the Spokane Sector, increasing its manpower to just under 200 highly-trained Border Patrol agents.
• At the beginning of FY 2008, the Spokane Sector seized the largest quantity of smuggled ecstasy ever to be confiscated along a land border between the official ports of entry. The ecstasy amounted to 309.6 pounds, had an estimated street value of $10 million, and led to the arrest of two smugglers.
• Border Patrol agents arrested the founder of the Eastern Washington skinheads for alien smuggling in December near Colville, Wash. In May, a judge sentenced him to 14 months in federal prison for the smuggling violation as well as six additional months for violating terms of supervised release from a previous federal criminal conviction.
• In FY 2008, the enforcement efforts of the Spokane Sector resulted in the criminal prosecutions of two smuggling cases and 10 criminal alien cases. The criminal alien cases reflect individuals who were charged with 8 USC 1326 “Re-entry After Deportation” as they were previously deported from the United States and each had criminal histories ranging from numerous misdemeanors to serious felony convictions.
• During FY 2008, the Spokane Sector expanded its canine program to 21 teams, up from 14 the previous year, thereby establishing the largest canine program along the northern border. These teams were responsible for narcotics and cash seizures amounting to more than $14.5 million in FY 2008. In addition to their ability to detect narcotics and concealed humans, all 21 canines are also trained to alert to and follow the odors that are created or left by persons when they move through an area, a specialty known as human track and trail.
• Over the course of FY 2008, the Spokane Sector canine teams assisted various agencies within Washington State during several marijuana eradication operations and sized 321,097 marijuana plants worth over $256 million.
• During FY 2008, the Spokane Sector established an Air Mobile Unit comprised of highly-trained agents specialized in small team tactics to detect and intercept cross-border violators attempting to use rugged and remote crossing points along the northern border. Because the rugged geography in the Spokane Sector’s area of operations challenges patrol efforts, the Air Mobile Unit allows agents to deploy in virtually inaccessible areas of the border fully equipped to work and survive in extreme environments.

In fiscal year 2008, the Spokane Sector set the standard along the northern border in partnering with the community and other law enforcement agencies to reduce crime in border communities, improve the quality of life in border regions, and educate residents on suspicious activity associated with human trafficking and narcotics smuggling. Ninety-four percent of the Spokane Sector’s narcotics interdictions in FY 2008 were in support of or with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies and the local public in the border area.

• The Spokane Sector expanded its Citizens Academy program by hosting capacity-filled sessions in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Curlew, Wash., and Metaline Falls, Wash. The Citizens Academy is designed to educate citizens about the many aspects of the Border Patrol, including its history, mission, and current operations, as well as offer an opportunity for residents to participate in open dialogue with the Border Patrol agents that protect them. Since the Spokane Sector became the first northern border sector to host Citizens Academies in FY 2006, the total number of border residents to graduate from the program soared to 177 during FY 2008.
• During the month of June, the Whitefish, Mont., Border Patrol station teamed up with the Montana Highway Patrol on Interstate 90, MT Hwy 135, and surrounding areas for the “Mineral County Interdiction Operation.” Due to their combined efforts, the operation resulted in ten felony drug charges, three felony warrants served, and the seizure of methamphetamine, ecstasy, marijuana, and stolen weapons.
• The Spokane Sector spearheaded Operation Outlook III, a bi-national, multi-agency, intelligence-drive operation. With the joint efforts of such agencies as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Department of Defense’s Task Force-North, Air and Marine Operations Center, Operational Outlook III successfully identified air-related smuggling trends and patterns and organizations active in cross border criminal activities.
• In seeking to overcome the challenges associated with patrolling the border on Federal protected lands, as well as work on items of mutual concern such as natural and cultural resource protection, the Spokane Sector established the first Borderlands Management Task Force along the northern border in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Interior.
• Spokane Sector Border Patrol Explorer Post 0023 hosted their third annual Basic Training Academy Explorer Academy, a program that promotes useable career information for young men and women ages 14-21 who are considering a future in law enforcement while also offering opportunities in character building, good citizenship, and fitness.
• During FY 2008, agents from the Spokane Sector were awarded the CBP Commissioner’s Ambassador Award for Intra-Governmental Outreach and Advocacy for “Project Noble Mustang,” a program in which the Spokane Sector adopted eight wild horses from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Program to use for patrolling our stretch of the U.S./Canada border. Through a cooperative agreement between BLM and the Colorado Department of Corrections, these wild horses received personal and extensive training as part of a unique inmate rehabilitative program at the Canon City, Colo., Correctional Institution before they were adopted by the Spokane Sector.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.