Drug Smugglers and Human Traffickers Steal $400,000 Nor-Tech Boat
Three crooks were captured on camera while stealing the high performance boat right from Nor-Techs yard late Last Sunday Night. Not only did these criminals haul off the boat, they did it with one of Nor-Techs own trucks! The Crime was all caught on camera at the Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats Company in North Fort Myers. The three crooks got away with a $400,000 boat and as of a week later, nothing has been recovered.
The Stolen Boat
“They broke into our truck which was hooked up to one of our customer’s boats and about a half hour later they took off with our truck, customer’s boat and trailer,” said Terry Sobo, with Nor-Tech. “It kind of makes you sick, you know? You feel pretty violated.”
Boats like these are stolen often by Drug Smugglers and Human Traffickers. Nor-Tech officials say they believe the crooks took the boat for these specific reasons.
“They’ll get the boat down to Cuba then do some human smuggling into Mexico with them and the boats are typically abandoned once they get there,” Sobo said.
Thieves like this usually have this operation down to a science. The boat will hit the water within hours of being stolen, and will usually meetup with another boat offshore for a fill-up on fuel if need be. Most end up in Cuba, then are routed to Mexico with Humans or Drugs as their cargo. After the boats arrive in Mexico, they are usually abandoned and then recovered by the Mexican Government and simply put in floating storage at a government dock in places like Isla Mujeres, which is near Mexico’s closest point to Cuba.
Boats at a Government Dock in Mexico
The two Cameras on a neighboring business caught the act and Sobo says he hopes this surveillance footage will help lead to arrests and possibly the return of his customer’s boat.
“Again, it’s just amazing that they would pick something so ostentatious and flamboyant to get away with,” he said.
