CBP Air and Marine agents from HARB interdict smuggler, migrants

Agents from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Miami Air and Marine Branch, located at Homestead Air Reserve Base, operate a Black Hawk helicopter and Midnight Express interceptor class vessel. The same types of helo and boat were used when CBP Air and Marine agents based at Homestead ARB assisted in the interdiction of 35 migrants and one suspected smuggler off the coast of Palm Beach, Fla., on May 23. (Courtesy photo by Zach Mann, CPB public information officer)

CBP Air and Marine agents from Homestead ARB interdict smuggler, migrants

Published June 2, 2008
By the 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
482nd Fighter Wing

HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. -- Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine agents, based at Homestead Air Reserve Base, intercepted 35 migrants and one suspected smuggler off the coast of Palm Beach on May 23.

Just after midnight, a Customs and Border Protection DHC-8 maritime patrol aircraft, equipped with 360-degree marine radar, detected a suspicious "go-fast" vessel off the Coast of Broward County. The crew of the aircraft contacted marine interdiction agents, stationed in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, who in turn launched two 39-foot high-speed interceptor class boats. Additionally, a CBP Blackhawk helicopter launched from the Air and Marine Branch at Homestead ARB to assist in the interdiction, said Senior Special Agent Zach Mann, CBP public information officer.

CBP air and marine units moved into position to intercept the vessel as it continued making its way towards the Southeast Florida Coast, and the vessel was intercepted one hour after its initial sighting in the waters east of Boca Raton, he said.

(U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of the Nation's borders between the official ports of entry. CBP is also charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.)