Every Leaside resident knows that our local Tremco plant employs upwards of 250 men and women working round the clock producing roofing materials that serve customers across North America. And that its business relies on prompt and orderly border crossings several times a day, every day of the week.
But I wonder how many know that, as a direct result of the foregoing, our local Tremco plant has become a leader in training industry – and local police – in preventing criminal and terrorist elements from using transport trailers as mules for the smuggling of narcotics or other contraband.
Earlier this summer I was treated to a tour of a training vehicle that had been kitted out by staff at the Leaside Tremco plant to demonstrate the various ways in which smugglers use legitimate transport trailers for their own purposes.
In an unused trailer that would otherwise have been sent for scrap, the staff installed dummy contraband in nooks and crannies that no untrained person would even know existed – but which experienced smugglers know well. In the demonstration trailer, of course, the bogus goods are highlighted in order to help staff and authorities know the places to check and what to be on the lookout for when managing and inspecting shipments.