Authorities from the U.S. and Mexico successfully stopped and captured a boat attempting to smuggle approximately one ton of marijuana in the international waters about 150 miles southwest of San Diego, according to officials. The boat was originally detected by a standard Border Patrol aircraft on Thursday morning and notified Coast Guard officials. The Coast Guard responded by sending a C-130 Hercules aircraft and crew to support the Coast Guard Cutter, Terrapin, sent to intercept the suspicious boat in international waters. The Terrapin is an 87-foot patrol boat and is based out of Bellingham, Washington. The crew of the Terrapin is formally trained to handle situations like this and when they got aboard the boat in question, they found three suspected smugglers and ninety bales of marijuana. The haul of drugs weighed approximately two-thousand pounds and were hidden on a fairly small boat called a “panga.” The suspected smugglers stated they were nationals of Mexico and were turned over to the Mexican Navy, along with the drugs and the boat. On August 1st, the Coast Guard captured two other pangas with four other suspected smugglers carrying about twelve-thousand pounds of marijuana.
Sources:
“Coast Guard: Boat Carrying 1 Ton Of Marijuana Captured” – Times of San Diego