UT San Diego: By David Garrick
CARLSBAD — A large radar device recently installed at Carlsbad’s Ponto Beach is part of a federal crackdown on drug and immigrant smuggling along the California coast.
The device, which can track any vessel within 20 miles, could help law enforcement agencies spot and apprehend smuggling boats or terrorists before they get to shore. It is the first of its kind in the country.
Federal officials have begun to focus more on securing the coastline after sharply reducing smuggling by air during the past 25 years, said Keith Jones of the Air and Marine Operations Center in Riverside, which is run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
