Canada Border Services Agency: Joint Operations

The Ottawa Citizen Dept: Almost a year after the Canada Border Services Agency's Ottawa hierarchy halted joint operations with police forces across the country, the Ottawa Citizen has learned that Montreal agency managers twice refused to join a multi-force anti-terrorism search last month after intelligence reports indicated cyanide and other dirty bomb materials were stashed in a trailer at a Montreal storage yard, according to Montreal Gazette. According to a Customs and Immigration union official, leaders of the rare and potentially dangerous operation were desperate for the customs officers' high-tech equipment and expertise in container searches, so they appealed to the "ministerial level in Ottawa"' and got a reversal of the decision and a dirty bomb alert involving armed Montreal customs agents has reignited a bitter dispute over whether Canada's border services personnel should be allowed to take part in joint operations with other law enforcement agencies. Local CBSA managers declined the request from leaders of the joint armed forces, RCMP, S ret du Qu bec and Montreal city police emergency force for fear of contravening their bosses' "no co-operation" edict laid down in December 2010. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.