The Coast Guard arrested two men after they rammed a patrol boat while trying to escape with undocumented immigrants near San Diego
San Diego: So, here’s the scoop. The Coast Guard caught two guys trying to smuggle people into the U.S. They were trying to escape when they rammed their boat into a patrol vessel. Crazy, right?
It all went down on January 5. The Coast Guardsmen arrested Oscar Eduardo Audelo-Rodriguez and Francisco Brado-Cota after spotting their boat in Mission Bay. They noticed something was off when they saw more fishing poles than people on board.
As the agents moved in, some folks jumped off the boat, but two guys sped away. The agents found out the remaining four were Mexican citizens without proper documents and arrested them.
When the Coast Guard got involved, the smugglers didn’t back down. They rammed the Coast Guard boat and even threw metal objects at the crew. Talk about a wild scene!
The Coast Guard fired some non-lethal rounds to disable the smugglers’ boat and used pepper spray to finally get them under control. They were arrested around 5 p.m. at Naval Base Point Loma.
Some of the immigrants said they were ready to pay big bucks to the smugglers once they made it to the U.S. One guy mentioned he was set to pay around $19,500. That’s a hefty price for a risky journey!
Interestingly, the Coast Guard has been busy lately, detaining over 27,000 people for similar activities since summer 2021. It’s a serious issue that keeps happening.
