By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter // With files from Canadian Border Services Agency

Southern Alberta border officers kept busy during October

Nov 22, 2016 | 9:34 AM

US BORDER – A number of weapons, impaired driving and other charges kept Canadian Border Services officers quite busy across southern Alberta.
 
A 46-year old Cardston woman was arrested October 25 after 43 overcapacity magazines were found during a vehicle search at the Del Bonita crossing. Martha Ford is now facing eight charges, including smuggling, and is scheduled to appear in Lethbridge court on December 16.
 
On October 8, officers at the Coutts border crossing found a prohibited .22-calibre handgun, which was loaded with eight rounds, in the centre console of an SUV. An Oklahoma woman was arrested, fined $1,000 for failing to declare and returned to the United States without the firearm.
 
At Carway, another loaded .22-calibre rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun were seized from an Alaska-bound man after finding the weapons in the toolbox of a pickup truck. Neither gun was declared. The man paid a penalty to get them back, and was refused entry for committing an offence.
 
An Alberta woman on October 16, a British Columbia man on October 22 and an Alberta man on October 30 were all stopped at the Carway crossing for impaired driving. Officers say each driver was observed with indicators like glassy eyes and slurred speech, and were required to take a breathalyzer test. All of them failed, were then arrested and turned over to Cardston RCMP.
 
On October 8, Carway officers found more than a kilogram of undeclared chewing tobacco during a vehicle search. Tins and rolls were concealed in an empty cup and a side compartment in the trunk. The woman driving, who was returning to Alberta from the US, voluntarily produced another two pouches from inside her shirt. All of the tobacco was seized with no terms of release. The woman was issued a $130 penalty.
 
Also at the Carway border, a woman from the US was seeking entry as a visitor on October 21. However, officers determined she was actually planning to move to Canada, and had already been working in the country without authorization. She’s since been barred from returning for one year.
 
Finally, on October 2, a US man convicted of assault was refused entry at the Wild Horse border crossing near Medicine Hat.
 
Coutts, Alberta’s busiest crossing, welcomed 305 new permanent residents to Canada, but refused entry to 26 foreign nationals for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, Carway saw 134 new residents and refused another 15 foreign nationals.
 
On average, CBSA officers in southern Alberta process 95,421 people in a month.