Mexican smuggling boats race up California coast

[question everything]

Source: NBC News

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Standing on a bluff along the central California coast, rancher Paul Van Leer pointed to the beach near his property where a Mexican smuggling boat, known as a panga, came ashore in May loaded with marijuana.

(snip)

The rancher's safety concerns reflect a trend noticed by federal and local law enforcement officials -- that Mexican maritime smugglers are bringing their illicit cargo farther and farther north along the California coast.

(snip)

Recently, Mexican boats carrying marijuana loads have landed on remote shores more than 300 miles north of San Diego. Two pangas were found near Big Sur. Another landed on the secured beaches of Vandenberg Air Force Base, while other smugglers left $4 million worth of marijuana bales strewn along the beaches near Refugio State Park, close to the pricey homes there.

(snip)

For the last three years, some of the smugglers have been using the Channel Islands National Park, a chain of environmentally sensitive islands off the Ventura and Santa Barbara coastlines, to refuel or to hide from U.S. Coast Guard patrols.


Read more: http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/13/19193263-mexican-smuggling-boats-race-up-california-coast

[Major Nikon]

1. They also use ultra light aircraft to fly it across

Anyone who thinks a border fence is going to work needs to watch this informative video.

[AgingAmerican]

2. Sadly

Those who drive these boats and unload the drugs have no choice in the matter. If they refuse, or lose a load, or make a mistake, their family back in Mexico pays the price. Once they get in with these gangs, there is no way out. A lot of them get in merely because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They may just be grabbed off the street. They might be immigrants who are headed to the US when the gangs intercept them.

Ironically, they will get paid fairly well for a delivered load. They do have a choice in the matter, but it's not a very good one. Its plata o plomo, or in English, "Silver or lead".

In some cases they choose lead. In 2011 in San Fernando Mexico, the Zetas drug gang captured 72 immigrants riding on a train. They needed warm bodies for their never ending battles with the other cartels. They were given a choice, join the Zetas as torturers and assassins and be paid $2000 per month, or be tortured to death. All but two chose death.

It's a sad, sad situation in Mexico these days.

Survivor details murder of 72 Central American Immigrants

[Rstrstx]

17. Couldn't have been on a train

There aren't any in the San Fernando area. It probably happened on a bus or private vehicles, I don't think that was ever clarified.

There was a time from 2010-2012(?) when San Fernando was truly a no-man's land. The horrors that happened less than 100 miles from the U.S. border are too depressing to dwell on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_San_Fernando_massacre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_San_Fernando_massacre

On a brighter note, the violence has subsided, at least in northeastern Mexico.

[wordpix]

28. a friend who goes to Mexico a lot says the problems are mostly near the border

He's actually buying a winter place in Mex. and sees no problems where he's going to live.

If the problems are mostly near the border, they're no doubt due to US demand for the drugs. Period.

[LiberalFighter]

45. There you go. That's the solution.

Get rid of the users!

[olddad56]

3. I guess if all of our troops werent in the middle east "defending our country, they could be here...

actually defending our country.

[frylock]

25. defending our country from what?

a better solution would be to come to the realization that all the money in the world isn't going to stop people from using marijuana.

[jtuck004]

4. I guess it's probably best I don't live there. The neighbors would wonder about the big

welcome sign and lemonade stand.

[cbayer]

5. It's crap pot. Much better quality grown in the state.

It's basically for export. I wouldn't bother.

[jtuck004]

7. Yeah. I just want them to know not everyone is afraid, and some respect them.

(That's the stuff that Okie's grew up on, back in the 70's. I was amazed when I moved up North that the norm was so much different. Actually took me awhile to quit believing they weren't spiking it with something.)

Their future has to weigh on their mind when they work, y'know?

And I think they might enjoy a glass of lemonade while they wait for their ride

[cbayer]

10. Well, one of them rammed a coast guard boat last December and killed a guardsman.

So.... I wouldn't be too anxious to welcome them.

They are desperate and afraid.

[jtuck004]

12. Didn't know. But maybe if they didn't have to feel desperate and afraid those kind

of things wouldn't happen.

[cbayer]

14. Er, they are transporting drugs across international borders.

They should feel desperate and afraid.

They make the waters around here unsafe. I am no fan.

[jtuck004]

15. Not unusual. A lot of folks have something they don't like about people coming across borders,

it''s because they are taking their jobs, bringing in drugs, whatever. And they all feel quite righteous and justified about their fear, hatred, disrespect, whatever.

Not dissing or judging you, it's just a fact.

But most of the people I have met that crossed the borders in a variety of ways, and I've worked with a few, are decent people who, through nothing other than an accident of birth, are coming from a place that is almost always much worse than they are headed for, usually filled with people who enjoy a privilege that is far greater than most realize. And even then they can't hardly bring themselves to be decent to the "outside".

It's been harder for me to be on the other side as the years go by, 'cause I think I have more in common with them than the people in the country I am from. As time goes on it seems like this place just gets more and more arrogant and plantation like.

[cbayer]

20. I don't dislike people coming across borders.

I am surrounded by them and have great respect and gratitude for what they are doing and experiencing.

This has nothing to do with righteousness, hatred or disrespect.

My respect for people that cross borders is not in question here and I agree that most are very decent people.

Drug runners from Mexico, though, are generally involved in criminal activity that is destroying that country and the decent people who live there.

[jtuck004]

21. I don't think they are nearly as harmful as bankers and the politicians they own are to this country

yet no one seems to be nearly as concerned when they dock their yachts around this country.

I just see different evil than some

[upaloopa]

32. I'm trying to figure out how they make the waters unsafe. I drive along the coast where the panga

boats land everyday to and from work. By the time anyone encounters the boats they are sitting on the beach empty. The local fishermen and sailboats don't seem to be harmed. Panga boats seem to travel at night when other boats are in shore.

[cbayer]

33. You are not on the water or in the harbors.

They do travel at night. They don't follow the usual rules for boats, like using navigational lights and they are on the run.

If you spent time on the water, you would understand the difference.

Are we really defending drug runners from Mexico here?

[snooper2]

35. I think I'm pro drug runner

Everyone has to make a living-

I watched a show a while back about the ones who walk across from Canada with backpacks. That would be a cool story to tell your grandchildren

[cbayer]

37. Just started watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix.

But that's another story.

You go ahead and run some drugs across the Canadian border. Or better yet, the Mexican border.

You big, bad Robin Hood, you.

[snooper2]

38. Dallas to McKinney is enough for me

LOL

I did smuggle a bottle of Tequila across the border from Tijuana once. Or at least I thought I was, probably not even illegal


I was 20 years old though and doing a job, had rental car, ran across border and came back. It was a Towncar if I remember correctly. The fucked up part is I was on the plane to fly back from southern cali to Missouri, plane was about to take off, and I was like FUCK!

I left that bottle under the back seat cushion of the rental car So if you worked at Avis in 1995 in Southern Cali and found that, you are welcome

[cbayer]

41. Hilarious, but I don't think it's illegal to bring tequila across the border, lol.

I was only briefly involved in some distribution earlier in my life and I'm not going to share the details. But for me, the anxiety was way too much.

I vowed early on in my life that I was not going to go to jail or prison. So far, so good.

[upaloopa]

49. explain the difference for me so I'll know

[cbayer]

50. About being on the water vs. being on land?

The pangas, most of which are not safe to begin with, travel without regard to the rules (international and local) that govern travel. They disregard rules about navigational lights, rights of way and, in general, create a safety hazard. They have also been known to dump their cargo into the ocean, either for a pre-arranged pick up or when they are cornered. This presents serious hazards to navigation.

It would be like people driving their cars into the country and completely disregarding stop lights, speed limits, rights of pedestrians or bicyclists.

They are engaging in criminal activity and have little incentive to pay any attention at all to the rights or safety of others.

[Dustlawyer]

30. Poor people cannot afford the stuff grown in the states. Most people that smoke in Tx get the

Mexican "dirt weed" instead of the Cali stuff b/c of cost.
People with medical conditions causing chronic pain or people on Chemo need this pot b/c it works great on their pain. Sadly, pot is a political issue due to the special interests who want to keep it out! They do not care if people suffer, until its them and then they say, "Well I never knew it really worked!" Lazy, ignorant fools I say!

[cbayer]

34. They also don't get the Cali stuff because the legal growers in california

take considerable risk if they export across state lines.

Of course, pot is a political issue. So are drug cartels in Mexico that import into the US.

[cbayer]

6. They often hand off to US registered boats coming out of various marinas.

But their boats are often shabby and ill-equipped for the journey.

[petronius]

8. If they can make it this far, they might as well keep going up to Humboldt, and

pick up a load of something good...

Kinda scary really - during lobster season especially I know a lot of people who go night-diving on those dark beaches. I'd hate for anyone to run into the folks who are planning to meet these pangas.

[Piedras]

9. More news about smuggler's pangas discovered along California's Central Coast

Drug smuggling pangas have been caught numerous places along the coast of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Some local stories from CalCoastNews.com:
San Simeon
Vandenburg
Coast Guard officer killed near Santa Cruz Island
Montana de Oro

[petronius]

13. Thanks for the links - I wasn't aware that any had been caught at MdO

I really need to read the local paper once in a while...

[petronius]

48. And another one today, north of Piedras Blancas

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/07/14/2582876/panga-boat-piedras-blancas.html

This is the sixth such boat found on local beaches since May 2012, when the first was discovered according to previous Tribune reports.

On May 29, authorities seized 53 bales of marijuana worth $1.3 million and arrested 15 people after a 35-foot-long panga boat was discovered off Montaña de Oro State Park.

[msongs]

11. if we could grow our own, those guys would be out of business overnight nt

[madrchsod]

39. who said we are`t growing our own?.....

[bluedigger]

16. Mexican pot? We don't need no stinkin' Mexican pot!

We need Mexicans to grow it here.

[Historic NY]

18. Humm coastal artillery would help solve the problem ...

in a short period of time. I'm amazed Vandenberg doesn't have a few emplacements.

It appears they are willing to challenge authority. Instead of a well placed shot over the bow, it should be going threw it.

[frylock]

26. you're fucking nuts

[Historic NY]

27. What about them.........!

The most dramatic and tragic incident occurred last December in Smugglers Cove, off Santa Cruz Island. Authorities say two suspected smugglers on a panga rammed a Coast Guard inflatable boat as it was approaching them, killing Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne.

“The vessel increased speed, directly rammed the Coast Guard small boat,” said Hehr. “At that point two Coast Guard members were ejected into the water. Senior Chief Horne was actually killed by the panga as he went into the water.”

[DeSwiss]

19. K&R

[Le Taz Hot]

22. Who buys this shit?

Seriously. It's unsmokable, has all kinds of pesticides and insecticides and commercial chemical fertilizer. And it's bunk weed to boot. I repeat, who buys this shit?

[petronius]

23. My neighbors, apparently, based on the rank smog that comes wafting from their apt

[Le Taz Hot]

24. I have been known to hand bunk smokers

a nice, California-grown bud and say, "Here, this is what ganja SUPPOSED to taste like." Followed by something I can't say on DU.

My condolences. I can't stand to smell bunk weed. It's just nasty.

[wordpix]

29. Just legalize it already!

I'd really like to know why I can't grow it in my own home or backyard garden. Is it such a crime that I'm hurting other people if I grow it for myself?

[Le Taz Hot]

47. One of the many things I

love about California -- I'm legal for 12 plants, but then again, I never did count too well. Seriously, the po-po have known about my plants for years. They don't care. They're looking for the places with 1,000 plants or the cartels trying to grow on federal/state land. I'm snooze-city for them.

[snooper2]

36. You don't like Folgers either do you?

[Le Taz Hot]

46. Sounds like a Lounge reference.

[Sunlei]

31. amazing to me they ignore totally borders towards the north and west *wink*

all those thousands of cargo containers too.

[madrchsod]

40. i hope the cops bust every boat that enters our coastal waters.

grow and smoke made in america pot!

[Mr.Bill]

42. With all the marijuana growing in California

I can't believe they are still smuggling it in from Mexico.

[cbayer]

43. People in CA don't smoke the Mexican import.

It is intended for export to other states.

[Mr.Bill]

44. That's true

Yeah, I guess if you live in Utah you could get high on that garbage.