Two Maple Ridge men have been arrested for marijuana smuggling after they allegedly led U.S. border agents on a high-speed boat chase in Juan de Fuca Strait.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, two men were spotted at about 1:30 a.m. Monday coming ashore with large bales on the highway west of Port Angeles in the Olympic Peninsula.
As agents moved in, the pair jumped into their boat and headed north, leading officers on a three-minute high-speed chase before they were caught by a customs boat.
A search of the area recovered eight bales of marijuana, weighing about 250 kilograms, floating in the water nearby.
John Bates, sector chief for the Blaine Boarder Patrol, said in a release that the Olympic Peninsula is under ongoing threat to narcotics smuggling and distribution because of its remoteness and geography.
Kyle Grayson Gadsby, 25, and Colin Charles Crowe, 26, were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday.
