REGION: Agents arrest suspected smugglers at sea

TERI FIGUEROA
Posted: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 5:40 pm


Federal agents arrested two Mexican men in a fishing boat off the coast of La Jolla early Tuesday morning, not long after the pair dropped off a group of illegal immigrants at a Carlsbad beach, authorities said.

While patrolling the shoreline at 3:30 a.m., U.S. Border agents spotted a small boat off the coast, according to a press release from Customs and Border Patrol officials.

A team of agents boarded the boat about eight miles off the coast, and found the pair of suspected smugglers. They also soon learned that the men, ages 29 and 44 and suspected of being in the country illegally, had just dropped off six people at South Ponto Beach in Carlsbad, according to the press release.

Later in the morning, Border Patrol agents caught up with and arrested two people who authorities said admitted they were part of the group dropped at Ponto. As of Tuesday afternoon, agents were still searching for the other four people thought to have been dropped off at the local beach.

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