Four tons of floating marijuana fished off California

Dana Point, CA, United States (4E) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Coast Guard have found and recovered 180 bales of marijuana floating off Dana Point in southern California. The pot weighing four tons and worth about $3.6 million was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol on Sunday.

Authorities found the floating marijuana after receiving a tip. The local sheriff and coast guard then sent a boat to the site 15 miles from the coastal town of Dana Point.

The U.S. Border Patrol is investigating where the marijuana came from, according to the agency’s agent Scott Simon. The agent said it was puzzling that there was no boat spotted in the area at the time the floating pots wrapped in plastic was discovered.

Drug smugglers on boat usually dumped such cargo at sea to escape from chasing authorities, Border Patrol official Michael Jimenez said. Losing weight allows their boat to run faster and evade capture.

Drug smugglers have become creative and are now using small improvised submarines to bring marijuana and other illegal drugs from Mexico and South America into the U.S. Such narcotic sub, as the Coast Guard calls it, can accommodate up to five crews and has a range of 5,000 miles.

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