SAN PEDRO, Calif. – Coast Guard and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department assets teamed up to stop two males in a panga-style boat from smuggling narcotics into California, Aug. 15.
Los Angeles County Lifeguards reported the fast moving boat to the Coast Guard Command Center around 7 a.m., this morning. The command center notified partner agencies and launched Coast Guard assets from Los Angeles, San Pedro, and Oxnard to interdict the boat. LASD launched a boat to aid in the effort.
After a nearly 30 minute pursuit, the suspects stopped their boat. With a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles overhead, boarding teams from 45-foot Response Boats from Coast Guard Station Los Angeles-Long Beach and Coast Guard Station Channel Islands Harbor, as well as LASD officers, took the two men into custody and the estimate 26 bales of suspected marijuana.
