War on smugglers no pleasure cruise

Federal agents patrol county's coastal waters
By Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 11, 2008

The newest battleground between Mexican smugglers and federal agents isn't on the ground. It's on the water.

Frustrated by anti-smuggling measures along the U.S.-Mexico border, smugglers increasingly are running up the Pacific coast from Baja California to San Diego County, delivering their cargoes of illegal immigrants, and sometimes narcotics, by the boatload.

Multimedia: To see a video of a recent anti-smuggling voyage, go to uniontrib.com/more/oceansmuggling

In some ways, it's a throwback to America's Prohibition era, when “rumrunnersâ€