REGION: Authorities focus on sea smuggling
Federal agents to gather in San Diego for conference
August 16, 2010

By EDWARD SIFUENTES -

When immigration authorities noticed an increase in the number of people and drugs landing on San Diego County beaches on small boats about three years ago, they began to develop a task force that included everyone from the U.S. Coast Guard to local police to combat the surge.

From 2007 to 2010, the number of illegal immigrants caught coming in by boat increased from 134 to 745, according to immigration authorities. Most of them used small fishing boats, known as pangas, or disguised themselves as tourists on other vessels, officials said.

Authorities say they believe an increase in border security on land forced smugglers out to sea. The amount of drugs intercepted at sea also increased, from nearly 9,000 pounds in 2007 to more than 26,000 so far this year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

To deal with the problem, several agencies, including the U.S. Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and several local police agencies, including Oceanside and Carlsbad in North County, developed the San Diego Maritime Unified Command, said Coast Guard Lt. Jamin Stortz.

"Each of these agencies learned that to work effectively, they needed to start talking and sharing information," Stortz said.

Officials from the various agencies meet weekly to share information, plan multiagency operations and discuss resources that are available for those operations, Stortz said.

On Monday morning, an 87-foot Coast Guard cutter patrolled the San Diego coastline from Point Loma to the U.S.-Mexico border looking for suspicious boats. Smuggling operations take place primarily at night, but authorities said they have to be vigilant around the clock.

"We'll patrol, just like we're doing right now," Stortz said. "We're also notified by other agencies or the general public of suspicious events and we'll respond to those."

The marine unified command is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Border Enforcement Security Task Force, a multiagency law enforcement group aimed at identifying and arresting criminal illegal immigrants. On land, the task force includes other agencies, such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.

Task force teams focus on detecting underground tunnels that smugglers use to carry drugs, weapons and people across the border.

About 600 federal agents are in San Diego for a conference that starts Tuesday and runs through Thursday to train and share information on the interagency partnerships.

In North County, the boat landings have increased in recent years.

Earlier this month, beachgoers found an abandoned panga on Carlsbad's Ponto Beach. Agents searched the area, but no arrests were made, according to the Border Patrol.

Because of their small size, panga boats can be difficult to spot, but their size also makes them dangerous, said Paul Pope, a supervisor marine interdiction agent with the Customs and Border Protection's air and marine branch.

Dozens of people are sometimes loaded onto the pangas.

In January, two illegal immigrants ---- a 34-year-old Mexican and an 18-year-old Guatemalan ---- drowned when their boat overturned off Torrey Pines State Beach.

A massive search-and-rescue operation located 16 people, all of whom were Mexicans and Guatemalans with no documents permitting them to be in the United States, authorities said.

Two men pleaded not guilty to federal charges in February in connection with the incident.

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