see also: in August 2008:   CBP in New York Apprehends Suspected Interpol Fugitive   Louisville CBP Finds Heroin in Woman’s Suit   CBP Officers Nab More than $1 Million in Narcotics in 48-hour Period   Philadelphia CBP Seizes $650,000 in Fake Bank Checks   CBP on a Roll Seizing Fake Handbags, Footwear Again in California   Calexico Downtown Port Officers Intercept $100K Narcotic Smuggling Attempt   CBP Outbound Inspection Yields 293 Unreported Ostrich Skins ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Blaine, Wash. - U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement agencies teamed-up to arrest a Canadian man after he allegedly drove a stolen car into the United States from Canada early Wednesday morning.

At 3:35 a.m., The Royal Canadian Mounted Police notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Pacific Highway port of entry that the RCMP was following a suspected stolen car southbound toward the United States.

Within minutes, the Canadian Border Services Agency called the Pacific Highway port of entry to advise that the car had just passed through the Canadian port of entry and into the United States. The car had been driven southbound in the northbound lanes, meaning that it came south—against traffic—through the lanes normally used by vehicles traveling northbound into Canada. Entering the United States this way is illegal and is known by local law enforcement as “running the port.”

Officers of the Blaine Police Department located the car abandoned about 150 yards south of the port of entry and verified that the car had been reported stolen in White Rock, British Columbia. Border Patrol agents searched the area and found a man hiding in the bushes nearby. A Whatcom County Sheriff’s canine handler arrived and his dog tracked the man’s scent from the stolen car to the spot where he had been hiding.

Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies booked the man into jail for felony possession of stolen property. Blaine Border Patrol agents placed an immigration detainer on the man to ensure that upon his eventual release from jail, he will face charges for having illegally entered the U.S. The car was towed and stored pending its eventual return to its owner in Canada.

This sequence of events is an example of law enforcement agencies working together not just in Whatcom County but even across the international border.

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.