Off-Coast Drill Foils Smuggling Try, Police Say

The U.S. Coast Guard seized a fishing boat carrying 16 suspected illegal immigrants Saturday off the coast of Newport Beach, ending what officials call a rare attempt to smuggle people into California by boat from Mexico.

“I’ve never seen one here like this,” said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Snyder, who is stationed in Newport Beach. “It’s absolutely rare for [suspected illegal immigrants] to come up here like this.”

The boat was spotted about 1:30 p.m. by a Coast Guard patrol boat from the Los Angeles-Long Beach station that was heading toward the gate of Newport Bay after completing a search and rescue demonstration.

Snyder said an alert seaman, Matt Neider, recognized the name on the boat--”Bee Bee”--from a list circulated weeks ago of suspect vessels. It is not known how long the boat had been at sea.

“They were acting very suspicious,” said Coast Guard Officer Brian Kelly, who boarded the fishing boat at sea to investigate. “They were . . . looking at us, looking away, then looking at us.”

Kelly said no one in the boat spoke English, there was extra fuel hidden aboard and 11 people hidden down below. Snyder said there was also 150 gallons of drinking water on board and no one was able to produce any identification.

Coast Guard officers contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which asked them to detain the boat and bring the passengers to shore for interviews. The group, 11 men and five women, was taken to the INS Detention Center in Los Angeles. Investigators had not identified who in the group was acting as the boat’s crew by Saturday night.

U.S. Customs also was called to search the boat for smuggled drugs. Drug-sniffing dogs were let on board and customs investigators began dismantling the boat.

“Sometimes these boats can be used for drug smuggling,” carrying anything from marijuana to cocaine or heroin, said U.S. Customs agent Phil Esquival. “They can be part of the payment to get over to the United States.”

Snyder said the registered owner of the boat, contacted by authorities Saturday, told them he had sold the boat some time ago.