Border Protection Agency Unveils Prototype for New Vessel For High-Speed Chases

-- U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday unveiled a prototype vessel for high-speed pursuits of smugglers ferrying people and drugs from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

The 43-foot boat is faster, more stable and carries about twice as much fuel as CBP's current vessels, which were rolled out from 2001 to 2005.

The $875,000 prototype comes with infrared cameras and sensors that give detailed images as far as the horizon goes. Currently, agents often use goggles, which detect things only as far as the naked eye.

CBP hopes to get funding to replace its fleet of about 65 vessels used for high-speed chases that are stationed in the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Florida's Atlantic coast and in the Pacific Ocean near the borders with Canada and Mexico.

Authorities say heightened enforcement on land borders has fueled an increase in human and marijuana smuggling by sea, particularly in the San Diego area from launching areas near Tijuana, Mexico.

The rickety smuggling vessels favored in San Diego generally can only hit speeds of about 20 mph, but they tend to travel at night far from shore and often elude capture.

"It's like looking for a can of soda in a gigantic pool," said CBP spokesman Juan Munoz Torres. "Sometimes you catch them, sometimes you don't."

Authorities have arrested 130 people suspected of crossing the border illegally by sea in the San Diego area since October, including 22 Mexicans who were found Monday on a 20-foot boat near Torrey Pines State Beach in ritzy La Jolla.

There were 136 suspected illegal immigrants arrested during the previous 12 months and only 44 the year before, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Authorities seized 52,000 pounds of marijuana in boats off of San Diego's shores since October, compared to about 9,000 pounds the previous 12 months and 10,000 pounds the year before.

Kayakers rested their paddles and turned their heads as the vessel prototype zipped past them under cloudy skies of San Diego's Mission Bay, a summer vacation mecca where smugglers have been found to mix with fishing and pleasure boats. A plastic model of an M-48 machine gun was planted on a side ledge.

A screen showed a vessel about a mile away with a man hoisting a fishing rod in the Pacific Ocean, indicating to agents that there was no threat and they didn't need to waste any time determining who was aboard.

The prototype, made by Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats of North Fort Myers, Fla., carries 600 gallons of fuel and reaches 75 mph, compared to a top speed of 60 mph for the current fleet.

The seats carry special shock absorbers to make for a smoother ride. The boat weighs about 21,000 pounds, compared to 14,000 pounds on the current boats.