A 33-foot panga boat was towed into the Santa Barbara Harbor on Monday after being discovered by fishermen earlier that morning, but whether the boat had been used to smuggle drugs or people into local waters remains unclear.
The panga boat, equipped with two large outboard motors, could be seen on Monday afternoon at the harbor’s boat ramp as officials from multiple agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement, worked on scene to determine what will happen next with the boat.
Later Monday night, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced that it took possession of the panga and is investigating the incident, according to spokeswoman Kelly Hoover.
Law enforcement say pangas — small open watercraft with one or more outboard motors — have become increasingly popular with smugglers transporting people illegally, narcotics and other contraband to the United States from Mexico.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley told Noozhawk that she couldn’t release any information about the boat’s discovery immediately, and that the investigation was ongoing and “very fluid.”
At the scene on Monday, there seemed to some dispute over the custody of the boat, and two men who say they discovered the boat Monday morning were seeking to keep it under marine salvage law.
Commercial fisherman Josh Brockway was on the dock Monday and said he and his captain, Eric Bjorklund, discovered the boat at about 8 a.m. Monday as they headed out to the Channel Islands, where they run an urchin diving operation.
Brockway said the pair spotted the boat about 10 minutes north of Refugio State Beach.
“Half of it was underwater,” Brockway said of the panga boat, adding that the stern of the boat was submerged in about 20 feet of water with the bow in the air.
Other than a few fuel cans in the water nearby, Brockway said he didn’t see any evidence of drugs in the boat.
Brockway said he began to bail the water out of the vessel, and about an hour and 20 minutes later a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter began circling, and signaled for the boat to get on the radio.
“They asked if there were any bodies and if everyone was safe,” Brockway recalled.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department got a report of an overturned boat in the Gaviota Coast area at about 6:50 a.m. Monday and was investigating along with the U.S. Coast Guard, Hoover said. Authorities also got reports of possible subjects and/or items in the water so deputies and Coast Guard officials responded to search the area with helicopters.
Several full fuel containers were found drifting in the water and on shore in the area, which was between Refugio State Beach and Tajiguas Beach, Hoover said.
Later, a suspected panga boat was seen being towed toward the Santa Barbara Harbor and Coast Guard personnel intercepted the boat.
“The subjects claimed the boat as theirs according to the ‘law of salvage’ and refused to release the boat to U.S. Coast Guard personnel,” Hoover said.
Sheriff’s Office personnel told the subjects the boat was considered evidence in a possible drug trafficking case but Bjorklund, 59, refused to release the vessel, she said.
Bjorklund was cited for interfering with an investigation, Hoover said. She said the proper way to gain ownership of a boat under salvage law is to file a claim with the county which is reviewed after any pending investigation.
In 2013, an abandoned panga was found in the Refugio Beach area and 50 plastic-wrapped bales of marijuana, valued at $4 million, were discovered partially hidden in the bushes nearby.
Between 2012 and 2013, more than 20 pangas have landed on the Santa Barbara County coastline, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates on this story.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
