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Coast Guard Trying To ID Group From Boat Stopped In Straits

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2008

Coast Guard officials are trying to determine the identities and nationalities of about a dozen people found on a boat in the Straits of Florida early Tuesday.

They are being detained on a Coast Guard vessel until authorities have enough information to decide whether they should be returned to their point or points of origin.

"That area is heavily patrolled. It does carry a lot of migrant interdictions," said Petty Officer Robert Simpson, a spokesman for the Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater.

The Clearwater station was involved in stopping the vessel.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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