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Drug Smugglers Head to Sea on .... Surfboards?

By Drew Nelles,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 18, 2009 8:12 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Improved security along the US-Mexico border has pushed enterprising smugglers to the sea in any manner of craft, the New York Times reports. Authorities have been catching twice as many illegal immigrants as usual—and seized 7 times the typical quantity of drugs—in recent months from boats and beaches, where smugglers sprint past startled sunbathers. One enterprising man was intercepted on a surfboard with a duffle bag full of pot.

The offshore upticks coincide with a newly fortified stretch of border fencing near the ocean.
“It’s like spillover from a dam,” says the commander of the Coast Guard's antismuggling effort in San Diego. US officials have requested more equipment, but that may not be enough. “It’s always a fight between technology and the ingenuity of smugglers,” an expert says.

Members of US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment 404 survey the deck of a self-propelled, semi-submersible craft seized for carrying almost 7 tons of cocaine off the Guatemalan coast.
Members of US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment 404 survey the deck of a self-propelled, semi-submersible craft seized for carrying almost 7 tons of cocaine off the Guatemalan coast.   (AP Photo/US Navy - Nico Figueroa)
Surfboard used to smuggle pot from Mexico.
Surfboard used to smuggle pot from Mexico.   (Department of Homeland Security)
Marine Corps Major Kristen Lasica, right, looks over a 24-foot boat that had been used to smuggle illegal immigrants as it sits at a dock at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.
Marine Corps Major Kristen Lasica, right, looks over a 24-foot boat that had been used to smuggle illegal immigrants as it sits at a dock at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.   (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Mexican army sailors show to the press five men that were detained at sea on a boat with cocaine in the Navy port of Salina Cruz, Mexico Monday Feb. 16, 2009.
Mexican army sailors show to the press five men that were detained at sea on a boat with cocaine in the Navy port of Salina Cruz, Mexico Monday Feb. 16, 2009.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
skylinesandsunsets
Jul 19, 2009 3:14 AM CDT
Spot on! Legalized prostitution in Nevada proves that it works, religious zealots and femi-nazis be damned.
skylinesandsunsets
Jul 19, 2009 3:12 AM CDT
Sad but true.
Mad
Jul 18, 2009 10:42 AM CDT
Using surf boards to smuggle drugs in nothing new. Happens frequently in San Diego. The thing is, they aren't 'heading to sea', they are returning to the coast from the boats that are off shore

Drug cartels spread to Midwest
Washington Post

20 migrants arrested on beach
San Jose Mercury News

 
Mexico • ocean • Mexican border • sea • illegal immigration • smuggling • drug smuggling • US-Mexico border

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