A boat hauling nearly half a ton of marijuana was found on Westward Beach in Malibu on Saturday morning, according to reports. No arrests were made in connection to the discovery.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau shared photos of the panga boat alongside photos of officers sorting through the “multi-pounds of marijuana” — several enormous bundles in black plastic bags.
A later report published by KABC in Los Angeles stated the boat was found to have had 800 pounds of marijuana on board.
Panga boats, fishing boats with outboard motors, have long been used by drug smugglers to illegally cart hundreds of pounds of drugs into California from Mexico.
In April 2014, a boat found to be hauling nearly two tons of marijuana washed ashore at Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu — the last time a panga boat loaded with drugs ran ashore in Malibu, but hardly the last time one was discovered in Southern California.
In October 2016, a boat loaded down with approximately one ton of marijuana was discovered in Long Beach, marking the third time in that month alone that a fishing boat was found smuggling drugs into California from Mexico. At the time, officials noted an uptick in smuggling activity.
According to KABC, no arrests were made and the boat found in Malibu on Saturday was emptied and towed back out to sea.
An investigation is underway, conducted by the LASD Special Enforcement Bureau and the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. According to the watch commander at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, the multi-agency team LA BEST is taking charge of the investigation.
“LA BEST is tasked with identifying, targeting and reducing security vulnerabilities affecting the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport complex, the Southern California coastline, and the waterways and transportation infrastructure that tie into them,” information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement described. “LA BEST is made up of personnel from nine federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including HSI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard Criminal Investigations Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Port Police, the Long Beach Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.”
Officials from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and LA BEST were not available for comment by the time The Malibu Times went to print Monday.
