By Mark Edward Nero
On the afternoon of March 14, Los Angeles Port Police Marine Unit officers on patrol in Los Angeles Harbor made an unusual discovery in an unoccupied boat at the Cabrillo Beach Launch Ramp: about 500 pounds of marijuana.
The drugs had an estimated street value of between $500,000 and $900,000.
Police declined to release more information regarding the case or the boat, other than saying that they were still attempting to track down the vessel’s owner and that Los Angeles Port Police detectives assigned to the Los Angeles Border Enforcement Security Task Force are continuing the investigation in collaboration with port police.
The LA BEST is tasked with identifying, targeting, and reducing security vulnerabilities affecting the Los Angeles/ Long Beach seaport complex, the Southern California coastline, and the waterways and transportation infrastructure.
The task force is made up of personnel from nine federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), US Customs and Border Protection, the US Coast Guard Criminal Investigations Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Port Police, the Long Beach Police Department, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
