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Abandoned Boat Found On Santa Barbara County Beach; Drug Smuggling Suspected

(Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office photo)
Panga boat found Sunday on beach near Gaviota

Authorities have recovered what’s believed to be an abandoned drug smuggling boat on an isolated section of the Santa Barbara County coastline.

A Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office helicopter on routine patrol spotted the 25 foot long boat on a beach near Gaviota Sunday morning. Local state, and federal law enforcement officers arriving on the scene found 18 mostly empty fuel containers on the abandoned boat.

There were no signs of people who might have been on the boat, or its cargo.

Panga boats of this type are commonly used to smuggle drugs and people from Mexico into the United States. The Department of Homeland Security took the boat, and is conducting an investigation.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.