Customs helicopter fires warning shots to stop smugglers

SAN DIEGO (LOG NEWS SERVICE) — U.S. federal authorities made the rare move of firing warning shots from a helicopter to stop a boat believed to be smuggling drugs off the San Diego coast. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a release Jan. 19 that an Office of Air and Marine helicopter crew had successfully stopped a panga Jan. 17 off the coast of Santa Catalina Island likely loaded with bales of marijuana, by using warning shots fired from the helicopter after the panga initially refused to yield. At about 10 p.m., the crew of a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 aircraft was on patrol when they spotted a suspect panga approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of La Jolla, traveling north toward Santa Catalina Island at a high rate of speed. The Coast Guard requested assistance from the San Diego office of the U.S. CBP Office of Air and Marine. A CBP crew in a Blackhawk helicopter on patrol near Santa Catalina, as well as the crews from two CBP OAM Midnight Express interceptor boats, responded to the location of the panga. The Coast Guard aircraft remained overhead to provide additional surveillance and reporting. As the CBP helicopter and boats were traveling toward...