Air and Marine Operations intercepts immigrant-smuggling operation near Florida

Feb. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Operations intercepted a dozen immigrants and an alleged smuggler trying to illegally enter the United States Tuesday evening.

The Miami Marine Unit identified a suspicious vessel operating with no navigation lights near Florida's coastal waters shortly after 9 p.m., U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday in a news release.

The agents tried to stop the vessel, but its operator did not comply until the Miami Marine Unit agents fired a warning round toward the vessel.

An adult Bahamian national was found operating the vessel, which carried a dozen migrants seeking illegal entry into the United States.

CBP officials described the vessel as a blue, 18-foot, single-engine center console boat.

One female passenger became unresponsive and immediately was transported to a local hospital for treatment while the remaining passengers and the operator were transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to take them back to their country of origin.

A Bahamian national last year was charged with federal crimes for at least three attempts to smuggle migrants from Colombia, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti into the United States using maritime routes between March 2021 and August 2022.

The accused in that case is Vandrick Nelson Smith, 34, who was arrested in the Bahamas on March 6 at the request of federal prosecutors in the United States.