Drug Smuggling Boat Found North of Piedras Blancas
Another drug smuggling boat was found full of marijuana just north of the Piedras Blancas light house.
When sheriff’s arrived on scene no drug smugglers were anywhere to be seen. It was just after 5 o’clock Monday when deputies received a call from a witness that had seen a drug smuggling boat.
“A State Parks Ranger was the first on scene and he located a possible boat on the beach, we responded with quite a few units,” said Sheriff Ian Parkinson. When the deputies found the boat the drugs were already off loaded all over the beach.
“They were interrupted and fled so it doesn’t look like the pick up crew arrived or was able to make connection so we recovered all the marijuana that was on board the boat,” said Sheriff Parkinson. Deputies estimate the load to be about 3,000 pounds of pot. Law enforcement says they believe 2-3 people had gotten away.
“Typically what we’ve seen is 2-3 people on a boat and from what we gather from the witness at this point it appears to be consistent with that,” said Sheriff Parkinson. All that was left in the boat was gas cans, rope, gloves, and trash. In this case deputies say it will take the boat to Morro Bay.
“Most of them we take custody of, we take them for a period of 90 days and then we destroy the boats,” said Sheriff Parkinson.
So far this year up until October there have been over 16 thousand pounds of marijuana seized from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz.
