One of the United States’s top customs investigators was on Thursday forced to defend his agency after a man carrying weapons including a bloodstained chainsaw, a home-made sword and a knife was allowed to cross the border freely from Canada to the US.
Although officers confiscated the weapons, which also included a hatchet and brass knuckles, Gregory Despres (22) was sent on his way. The next day he was named as the chief suspect in the murder days earlier of two of his neighbours in his home town in Canada.
The decapitated body of a 74-year-old musician, Frederick Fulton, was discovered on the kitchen floor of his home in the small town of Minto, New Brunswick. His head was found in a pillowcase under the kitchen table. His partner, Veronica Decarie (70) was found stabbed in a bedroom.
According to the Associated Press, border officials at Calais, Maine, questioned Despres for two hours, fingerprinted him and confiscated his weapons before allowing him to enter the US.
The case has prompted anxious questions about the supposedly tightened security at the US border. A Democratic member of the House of Representatives, Stephen Lynch, asked whether investment in border security was ”really paying off”.
But Jayson Ahern, assistant commissioner for field operations for US customs and border protection, on Thursday told the Boston Globe: ”Certainly there was a lot of behaviour that raised concerns by our inspectors. He did demonstrate bizarre behaviour, but that’s not illegal.”
Bill Anthony, a spokesperson for US customs and border protection, echoed his comments. He said the agency had no grounds to hold Despres because he was a naturalised US citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges at the time.
”Nobody asked us to detain him,” he said. ”Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. We are governed by laws and regulations and he did not violate any.
”Our people don’t have a crime lab up there,” he added. ”They can’t look at a chainsaw and decide if it’s [covered in] blood or rust or red paint.”
Despres became a suspect in the killings because of a history of ill-feeling between the neighbours. Police had been called to Fulton’s home last year after Despres allegedly pointed a bayonet at his son-in-law.
He was arrested on April 27 walking down a motorway in a sweatshirt that had brown and red stains after a routine check showed he had skipped a hearing related to the earlier incident.
He is now in prison in Boston, awaiting an extradition hearing next month. – Guardian Unlimited Â