By Murray Brewster, Canadian Press
HALIFAX, Canada (CP) - It took three days for Canada’s national police force to be told that a suspicious shipping container was missing from a Halifax pier last spring.
The theft of the boxcar-size crate in mid-April and the delay in reporting it initially sent shivers through senior ranks of the RCMP, Canada’s lead federal agency in the war on terrorism.
The delay “was more than enough time” for a potential terrorist to drive the container up to -and possibly over -the U.S. border, said a senior RCMP source, who spoke to The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity.
Compounding the problem, customs officers with the Canada Border Services Agency couldn’t say exactly when the huge, metal container was stolen -only that the theft happened some time between April 10 and April 20.
The glaring security lapse also came at a time when U.S. security officials were concerned about a possible terrorist attack in the weeks leading up to the Democratic National Convention in July.
The container has yet to be found.
While Canadian authorities are confident the theft was not the work of terrorists, it has nonetheless raised serious concerns, given the fact Ottawa has spent millions of dollars improving and reorganizing port security.
On April 21, customs officials discovered the container, which was targeted for inspection and supposed to be under surveillance, was missing.
It took the border agency two days to figure out the container was not misplaced.
The theft was reported to Halifax Regional Police and a special port security task force on April 23.
Another day went by before the RCMP was told.
“We found out about it through the back door,” the source said. Given the heightened state of security at Canada’s ports, “we would have expected (customs) to notify us the moment it was (reported) missing.”
Senior Mounties were furious because a special task force that included the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency, military police and Halifax Regional Police was set up at the port in 2003 to prevent this kind of oversight.
Despite the concerns, authorities do not believe the container carried any weapons of mass destruction, such as a radioactive dirty bomb, and did not pose a national security risk for either Canada or the United States.
Though they will not admit it publicly, police sources said they believe the crate was carrying drugs.
Authorities refuse to say where the container came from or what shipping line carried it.
While confirming there was a significant delay, an RCMP spokesman downplayed the incident and said corrective action has been taken.
“Our belief is that there was a simple miscommunication associated with the delay in this matter,” said Cpl. Carl Hubley.
At a meeting in May involving the RCMP’s top federal enforcement officer in Nova Scotia, customs officials and members of the port security team, the need for better co-operation was underlined.
“The partners certainly left that meeting with a greater understanding of communication and I think we’re headed in the right direction now,” said Hubley.
Meanwhile, officials with the Canada Border Services Agency said their group was not to blame for the delay because once it was confirmed the container was gone, the matter was promptly reported to the task force.
“I think the job was done by the Canada Border Services Agency,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Morrison. “As far as sharing information, all of the proper steps were taken.”
She suggested that once the theft was reported to Halifax police, which has the responsibility of investigating port crimes, it was up to that agency to pass the word along.
“I can’t comment on how the national ports enforcement team shares their information,” said Morrison. “Halifax Regional Police were brought into this. It’s their investigation.”
Morrison conceded that customs officials have drawn lessons from what happened, but she refused to indicate what they were.
“Any areas of concern were identified and addressed immediately,” she said.
The Mounties insisted such a serious security breach should have immediately set off alarm bells at a more senior level than dockside investigators.
Sgt. Don Spicer said his senior staff was told about the theft the moment a criminal case file was opened and it’s not the responsibility of local police to notify the Mounties about an incident where federal officers were supposedly in the loop.
Halifax police have said they have yet to identify any suspects in the theft.
Stealing a container is by no means an easy task, given that a crane would have been needed to load it on a truck.