Thread: 26 arrested in 3 SoCal illegal alien smuggling attempts

26 arrested in connection with 3 illegal immigrant smuggling attempts

October 18, 2010 | 6:03 pm

Federal authorities thwarted three maritime smuggling attempts over the weekend in San Diego County, arresting 24 suspected illegal immigrants and two suspected smugglers, and seizing two boats and more than $63,000 in smuggling proceeds.

Early Saturday, four people were arrested near Imperial Beach after being smuggled into the country on two personal watercraft, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A few hours later, agents arrested 11 would-be immigrants at Torrey Pines State Beach. The panga-style boat they were in was stopped trying to escape, and two suspected smugglers were arrested.

On Sunday, agents foiled an attempt to smuggle nine people via a 40-foot sailboat into Mission Bay. Five of the immigrants were arrested in a hotel room, where the criminal profits were discovered.

The incidents mark the latest in a sharp surge of attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into California by sea. The boats depart from small ports and beaches near Rosarito Beach and head north.

Federal authorities have arrested 867 illegal immigrants in the last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

-- Richard Marosi in San Diego

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Jet ski, sailboat, fishing vessel: 3 immigration attemptsBy Morgan Lee

Originally published October 18, 2010 at 6:44 p.m., updated October 18, 2010 at 8:38 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — Twenty-six illegal immigrants were apprehended over the weekend trying to reach the U.S. coast on water skis, a luxury sailboat and a small fishing vessel, only to be intercepted by federal agents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday.

After questioning two suspected illegal immigrants Sunday evening in a Mission Bay parking lot, agents seized a rented 40-foot sailboat on the bay, Border Patrol agent and spokesman Jerry Conlin said.

Eight male Mexican nationals and one Cuban man were arrested. Five of the arrests took place at a Mission Bay hotel where immigrants were being held, according to a news release by Customs and Border Protection.

The immigrant who rented the sailboat and hotel room was being held under provisions of U.S. alien smuggling law. The owner of the sailboat, estimated to be worth $300,000, can petition to get the vessel back if not directly involved in the smuggling attempt.

On Saturday, 13 Mexican nationals were taken into custody in the afternoon after a “pangaâ€