Sea Otter Interdicts 1,400 lbs of Marijuana
San Jose Mercury News
SAN DIEGO – The Coast Guard apprehended two smuggglers and recovered approximately 1,400 pounds of marijuana near Point Loma, CA early Saturday morning. The Joint Harbor Operations Center (JHOC) received a call at 6:40 a.m., from a concerned citizen who spotted a boat that had been beached in the Sunset Cliffs area, and the occupants appeared to be unloading something from the boat to another location. The Coast Guard Cutter Sea Otter was sent to the scene to investigate. Upon arrival, the crew took two suspected smugglers into custody and the panga into tow to transport them to San Diego to turn over to Border Patrol. The person who originally reported the beached panga also told authorities the location of the cave where the contraband was being offloaded from the panga. San Diego Police Department, Coastal Border Enforcement Team and the San Diego Lifeguards were all on scene, and the lifeguards removed the bales of marijuana from the cave to a Coast Guard 33-foot patrol boat. The drugs were then transported to San Diego and turned over to Maritime Task Force.
Filed Under: News
Good call on this story, and thanks for picking up the slack while I was out of town. Man, it sure is nice to have a one stop website for all the good things the Coast Guard does in regards to their LE job!