Practical joke closes border for 3 hours

[Rose Siding]

A practical joke played on a Bellingham man by his co-workers in Olympia ended up closing the Lynden-Aldergrove border crossing into British Columbia for more than 3 hours yesterday as Canadian authorities investigated the possibility the man was carrying a bomb.

The 42-year-old man was stopped at the Canadian border, north of Lynden, around 4:40 p.m., Cpl. Dale Carr of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a news release. During an inspection of his vehicle, "a crude device thought to be an explosive" was found under a seat, he said.
...
Investigators later determined it was harmless, Carr said. Turns out, the man's co-workers in Olympia put some ball bearings into a metal tube and crimped the ends; they placed it in the man's vehicle to annoy him, with the idea "it would create a rattle that the driver would find difficult to locate," he said.

After being questioned, the man was released and will not face charges, Carr said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002190837_border26m.html

[candle_bright]

1. What a knee-slapper

make your friend think his car is about to break down or something!

What a dumb idea for a joke, and it sure didn't turn out as planned either! B-)

[SomewhereOutThere424]

2. I'm glad they're more serious about border patrol

I live in upstate new york and I know a lot of families who like to go to canada. They used to be able to drive by, no matter how questionable they may have seemed, and they weren't even stopped. They just drove through and back and the guard was asleep or distracted by something. They once even played a joke where they held a fake gun in the window and two of the brothers of the trip were strangling eachother, even slowing down past the guarded area there to see if they'd see anything.

Of course these are word and mouth stories, it could be completely false, but until all of this national freedom stuff started I'd never heard a story of anyone even needing to stop at the border patrol. It was like the local joke how anyone would just get in..

[Rose Siding]

3. I've never heard any stories like the ones you relate

Makes you wonder how the border guards prevented the Y2K bombing.

Every single time I've been through (not since 01) there were numerous lanes with multiple patrol in each "hut" -exactly enough security for my taste.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

5. That's reassuring

Of course where I live the type of people you hear stories like that from are questionable. It's good to have out-of-country contact about things like that.

[uncle ray]

7. don't kid yourself, it ain't security.

it's drugs they're looking for.

when i went to Vansterdam, i mean Vancouver, for vacation, we got our rental car thoroughly searched. whatever you do, don't take any home baked bread to Canada, it won't make it! they swore we had drugs. we told them we HAD drugs, but smoked them all before we got to the border!

coming back to the states was whole other story. the border patrol guard never stepped away from his building, he asked from 4 feet away if we were all americans, we answered yes, so he let us through.

oh the irony.

[Missy Vixen]

9. Our experience was the opposite

>when i went to Vansterdam, i mean Vancouver, for vacation, we got our rental car thoroughly searched.<

Our last trip to Canada was a doozy. We were participating in a cat show just over the border, which necessitated us bringing our two felines and all of their paraphernalia. We were also in possession of our pets' pedigrees and their shot records, which were heavily scrutinized by the US.

The Canadians didn't even want to see our passports when we came through their side of the border. We drew the secondary search on the American side due to cat food. Yes, that's right. The United States will not allow any meat products crossing the border from Canada due to Mad Cow. We were asked to remove every item from our vehicle that wasn't bolted down.

Our biggest mistake was not removing the cat carriers first. When the Customs agent saw our cats, she cooed, "Oh, can I see the kitty?" We took our ten-month-old kitten out of his carrier and handed him to her; she waved her hand and said, "Oh, you're fine, you can go back into the US now." DH has mentioned several times since that he'll pull out the cat carriers in the future before we unload the car...

Julie

[freeplessinseattle]

4. now why did they stop him in the first place?

that's interesting, wonder what compelled them to make a search of his vehicle at all? god, hope no one tries to play a practical joke on me!

I used to go through that very border crossing a few times a year when I lived in Bellingham, long before 9-11, and the Canadian border crossing people were always much friendlier and easier, but going back the line always moved more slowly, even though at the time it was usually the Canadians that had purchases to claim.

I remember one time when I was coming back from a Canadian bar when I was 19, the guy driving wasn't familiar with border crossings and after sitting for a moment waiting for a guard to come out he decided that meant we could just go on through, and hit the gas while we all screamed at him to stop. then the border guards came running out ensuring he stopped. so of course we were detained for an hour or two while they ran our ID's and searched the vehicle. amazingly they didn't give the driver a breathalyzer, guess that wasn't their concern.

[LiberalFighter]

6. It would had worked better if they had put those bearings in the hubcap(s)

[Kagemusha]

8. They tell us he won't face charges like the opposite is expected.

What a world.