see also: in September 2007 News Releases:   CBP Seizes $2.5 Million Worth of Marijuana Inside Cargo Load at Texas Entry   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Achieves Container Security Initiative Milestone with 58 Operational Ports   CBP Agriculture Team Intercepts Narcotic Plant at Newark Airport   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Collects More Than $2.2 Million in Underpaid Antidumping Duty on Chinese Shrimp   Kiosks for Frequent International Fliers Now Available At Edmonton Airport   Port of Alexandria, Egypt Participates in the CBP Container Security Initiative   Ports of Colon and Manzanillo, Panama Begin Container Security Initiative Operations ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Bellingham, Wash. – A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew from the CBP Air Branch in Bellingham, Wash. Friday located missing hiker Mary Hyde Wingfield. Wingfield had been missing for six days after failing to return from camping in the remote North Cascades National Park.

CBP air interdiction agents in an AS-350 A-Star helicopter were assisting local search-and-rescue crews who have been searching for Wingfield since Tuesday. Wingfield was spotted near Diablo Dam in Whatcom County about 2:30 p.m. Friday and the A-Star touched down in a nearby creek. She was airlifted to the National Park Service facility near the dam. National Park Rangers report Wingfield does not appear to have sustained any major injuries, but is exhausted and dehydrated following her ordeal.

“This is a story with a happy ending,” said Jim Eli, supervisory CBP air interdiction agent of the Bellingham Air Branch. “We are all thankful that Ms. Wingfield was found and share in her family’s relief that this search ended successfully.”

The Bellingham Air and Marine Branch was established in 2004 as the first of five planned facilities to augment CBP’s northern border security capabilities with air and marine law enforcement, surveillance and airspace security authorities.

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 the 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.