Surge in Mexican Drug Smuggling Boats on California's Central Coast Stephen Baxter - The Santa Cruz Sentinel
go to original March 16, 2014

U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) interdicting a drug panga approximately 90 miles southwest of San Diego, Oct. 2013. (U.S. Coast Guard)

SANTA CRUZ - Slicing through the ocean with more than 2,000 pounds or more of marijuana, drug smugglers on Mexican fishing boats known as pangas have skipped Southern California landing zones in recent months and headed to Santa Cruz and Monterey County.

Pushed north by heavier law enforcement and border security in Southern California, about 70 open-hulled pangas have been seized since October in the state and three pangas from Big Sur to Davenport.

But many more of the motor boats have zipped up the coast undeterred and unloaded drugs to crews waiting on shore with RVs and other vehicles, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Recent court documents and interviews with federal and Santa Cruz County law enforcement dig into the mechanics of the maritime drug trade and explain why boaters should be aware of the boats and report them.

Read the rest at The Santa Cruz Sentinel

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