The U.S. Navy says an aircraft carrier group recovered nearly 10 tons of marijuana dumped from small boats in the Pacific Ocean near California’s border with Mexico on June 16th.
The Navy said Tuesday that two single-engine boats — each about 25 feet long — were spotted about 15 hours apart on Saturday. People aboard the boats began dumping plastic bags, and the boats escaped before authorities arrived.
Lt. Aaron Kakiel says no one was captured. The seizures occurred in international waters about 85 miles (137 kilometers) off the Mexican coast.
Authorities recovered about four tons of marijuana from the first boat and nearly six tons from the second. The carrier USS Nimitz and cruiser USS Princeton were assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican navy.
150 Bails of Pot
The U.S. Coast Guard seized approximately 150 bales of marijuana on Monday, from a boat disabled near the Channel Islands Harbor off the southern California coast on June 11th, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Lt. Timothy McGhee said the Coast Guard responded to a disabled boat early Monday three miles from the harbor. The vessel was towed to shore, and the marijuana bales were then found in plain sight during a routine safety check.
The drug haul was estimated to be at least 2,500 pounds, McGhee said. An estimate on the street value of the drugs was not available.
Two men, whose names were not released, asked to be towed into Ventura Harbor and were then taken into custody, McGhee said. Police do not know what caused the boat to be disabled or where it originated.
7500 LBs of Pot
Authorities confiscated 160 bales of marijuana totaling over 7,500 pounds, in the ocean about 15 miles off the coast of Southern California on Sunday afternoon on May 20th, CBS Los Angeles reports.
According to a statement released by U.S. Border Patrol Agent Supervisor Michael Jimenez, maritime law enforcement authorities received a tip around noon about suspicious bales floating off the coast of Orange County, near Dana Point.
Orange County police recruited several boats from the Coast Guard and Border Patrol to retrieve the narcotics. Border Patrol agents said the marijuana has a street value of $3.6 million.
It’s unclear who dumped the pot. Jiminez said the narcotics were turned over to U.S. Border Patrol.