Agents interecept boat carrying 23 suspected illegal immigrants
SAN DIEGO — A Mexican fishing vessel loaded with 23 suspected illegal immigrants was intercepted off Torrey Pines State Beach on Monday morning, the latest in a rash of maritime smuggling attempts, federal authorities said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were on a routine patrol four miles off the coast about 4 a.m. when their floodlights illuminated a 26-foot vessel loaded with 19 men and four women, all Mexican nationals.
Another smuggling attempt on Monday apparently succeeded. Agents found an abandoned boat on the beach at Torrey Pines. Scattered around were 21 life vests.
No arrests have been made in that case.
On Sunday, three immigrants and a suspected smuggler -- a U.S. citizen -- were taken off a boat in San Diego Bay.
A day earlier, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a 27-foot vessel off San Diego, detaining two suspected smugglers and two immigrants.
Smuggling by sea has increased in the past year because of increased enforcement on land, authorities say. Often departing on rickety boats from marinas in the Rosarito Beach area, the smugglers come ashore near Coronado, just across the border, or up the coast at Torrey Pines.
The Torrey Pines location is a favorite destination, authorities think, because the steep cliffs limit public use of the beach and there is easy access to Interstate 5.
Authorities intercepted 220 suspected illegal immigrants during the 2008 federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, a threefold increase from the same period in 2007, said Lauren Mack with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Marijuana smuggling by sea appears to have surged in the first quarter of 2009, with authorities seizing more than 24,000 pounds since October, triple the amount from the same period a year ago, Mack said.
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