The Associated Press
BANFF, Alberta (AP) - Canada and the United States said they would set up five more joint border policing units in Ontario and Quebec to improve security in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Integrated Border Enforcement Teams first created in 1996 include police, customs and immigration officials. A total of 14 such teams are planned, and Monday’s announcement brings to 10 the number being set up so far.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Canadian Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay said the joint teams were important in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Speaking at a cross-border crime forum in the Rocky Mountain resort town of Banff, Ashcroft said the new teams gave both countries more resources to “fill the gaps” along the border “to interrupt unlawful penetrations.”
While praising Canada for its cooperation, Ashcroft said more needs to be done to improve border security.
“There remain in the United States, in North America, terrorists and their supporters, in sleeper cells, that we may not have identified,” he said.
Since Sept. 11, the United States has charged 129 people, convicted 86 and deported 417, said Ashcroft, calling it the biggest criminal investigation in the nation’s history.
Canada faced accusations of being a haven for terrorists after the 1999 arrest of Ahmed Ressam as he tried to cross into the United States with explosives in his car. Ressam was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport during millennium celebrations.
Canadian officials have pointed out that none of the Sept. 11 hijackers are known to have come through Canada.