NEW YORK: US Customs and Border helicopter crew fired warning shots to stop a panga boat suspected of smuggling marijuana near Catalina Island. Three suspected smugglers were taken into custody.
“This is the first time on the West Coast that we’ve deployed warning shots from an air asset to the water,” said Mitch Pribble, Customs’ director of air operations in San Diego, in a statement.
The pursuit began when Coast Guard crew members aboard a patrolling C-130 Hercules aircraft reported the a speeding panga boat in the ocean about 24 nautical miles from La Jolla. The Coast Guard called in to Customs for assistance, and Customs officers aboard a Blackhawk helicopter patrolling near Catalina Island responded. Customs personnel also dispatched crews aboard two Midnight Express interceptor boats.
Coast Guard observers continued to fly over the panga and saw men aboard the boat jettisoning bales of a substance suspected of being marijuana into the ocean.
The Customs helicopter crew aboard the Blackhawk reached the panga shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday. The boat’s crew failed to stop. Customs reports the air crew followed a protocol designed to make sure their is no risk to boaters before firing warning shots from a mounted bolt-action rifle.
The panga’s crew stopped the boat after shots were fired. Customs officers aboard one of the pursuing Midnight Express vessels took three men from the panga into custody. The panga itself was seized.
