The San Diego Harbor Police Department told the local NBC affiliate that the boat was spotted off the coast of Point Loma around 2:50 a.m.
The boat’s captain refused to listen to the Coast Guard’s demands and later got the boat stuck near Osprey Point around Sunset Cliffs, USCG Petty Officer Alex Gray told NBC.
The panga boat had nearly two dozen people on board. The Coast Guard and San Diego lifeguards confirmed to CBS that this was a human smuggling boat. It is unclear yet where these people are from or where they were heading.
The people on the boat are being detained, questioned and processed by Border Patrol, according to local reports.
This comes two weeks after a suspected smuggling boat carrying 32 people capsized off Point Loma, killing three people.
The boat’s operator has not yet been identified.
The panga was seized and the investigation is ongoing.
Fox 5 reporter Jacqueline Sarkissian shared footage earlier Monday morning of the U.S. Coast Guard and San Diego Border Patrol agents transporting the panga passengers to the San Diego lifeguard headquarters.
After the U.S. Coast Guard towed the panga to San Diego Lifeguard Headquarters, Border Patrol agents questioned the people on board and determined they were “all illegally present in the U.S.,” a Border Patrol spokesman told local media.
There were no injuries reported as the USCG pulled 23 people, 20 men and 3 women, aboard the USCGC Robert Ward.
