Border Patrol officials on Wednesday investigated the discovery of two smuggling boats beached in San Diego County, with agents finding an empty panga in Carlsbad and arresting five people in Mission Beach in the second incident.
An abandoned panga was reported to Coast Guard officials around 8:40 a.m. off Ocean Street near Pacific Avenue in Carlsbad, just up the street from the Army and Navy Academy boarding school, officials said.
Border Patrol agents responded and found 17 abandoned life vests but no people onboard, a Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson said in a statement.
The boat was seized.
About seven hours later, San Diego lifeguards reported a beached vessel at South Mission Beach to the U.S. Coast Guard Joint Harbor Operations Center. Witnesses told lifeguards around 3:30 p.m. that they saw people run from the 40-foot boat and head toward homes along Mission Boulevard, officials said.
Agents responded to the area and apprehended five men identified as Mexican nationals. The boat was also seized, officials said.
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