SANTA BARBARA (AP) — Friday the 13th was certainly unlucky for some reputed drug smugglers.
Authorities arrested 18 people and seized more than a ton of marijuana brought ashore by boat in Santa Barbara.
Authorities say California National Guard members saw a small boat land at Arroyo Quemada beach early Friday morning and watched people removing bales from it.
Officers and agents from local, state and federal agencies descended. Authorities say the smugglers scattered but 14 were found hiding in bushes.
Another four were arrested later.
Authorities seized some 2,000 pounds of pot from the boat and from a truck believed involved with the smuggling operation that was stopped in Camarillo.