San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office unveiled its new ocean drug interdiction boat giving it a new tool in the fight against drug and human smuggling off the Central Coast.
The “Defender Class” boat is 27-feet long and is powered by twin, 300 horsepower outboard motors, capable of pushing the aluminum hulled boat 60 mph across the water, according to information supplied by the Sheriff’s Office. She will have a 2-person crew and it cost some $342,000.
The boat’s main mission will be operations involving so-called Panga boats used by Mexican cartels to smuggle marijuana, heroin and people, landing them on California beaches from San Diego to Piedras Blancas.
There have been some 15 cases since 2012 of Panga boats landing on remote SLO County beaches — mainly north of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse but at Cayucos’ Estero Bluffs and even Montaña de Oro State Park.
In several cases the smugglers and their human and drug cargoes have been captured but the majority have gotten away with it. This new boat has a tow package so the Pangas can be towed off the beach and back to port for seizure.
The boat can also be used to patrol and respond to incidents on the coastline including the federal security zone area off Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant primarily patrolled by the Coast Guard, and to support coastal scuba diving operations.
Money for the boat came from a federal border protection grant, which also includes fuel, overtime and maintenance.
The boat is the third the Sheriff’s Office has gotten using federal grant programs, the other two patrol freshwater lakes — Nacimiento and Lopez. It’s the department’s first ocean-going boat. Submitted photo.