Boat used to smuggle drugs washes ashore

By Angelica Martinez and Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

3:20 p.m. April 21, 2008



GREG GROSS / Union-Tribune
City rescue workers secure a floundering drug boat at Sunset Cliffs.

SAN DIEGO – An 18-foot boat used to smuggle drugs washed ashore in Sunset Cliffs with marijuana still on board early Monday morning, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a call that a boat was in distress and hitting the rocks about 6 a.m., said Lauren Mack, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.

When authorities arrived, the boat had been abandoned. Investigators removed about 20 bales of marijuana of varying sizes found inside the craft, Mack said.

The boat was then pulled off the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs and was heavily damaged. It sank soon after. It was about 150 yards from the rocks and left a trail of debris in the water.

Among the debris were dozens of bales of marijuana that fell off the boat when it capsized, Mack said. A total of 111 bales of marijuana were collected, weighing 362 pounds.

Mack said no arrests have been made.

It is the latest in a surge of smuggling boats found along the San Diego coast.

Last week, two abandoned boats believed to have been used for smuggling drugs and humans washed ashore.

One was found at Torrey Pines State Beach. Mack said that boat did not have drugs on board, but authorities believe it had been used to smuggle narcotics.

A second boat was found in the surf along the Silver Strand in Coronado. Authorities suspect that boat was used for smuggling humans.

In March, 15 people were found in a boat about 20 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border and 15 miles west of Mission Bay.

At the time, Mack estimated there had been 20 similar attempts by smugglers to use boats to bring illegal immigrants into the country over the past eight months. The boats were found at the beach or a short distance off the coast.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... boat3.html