ENCINITAS, Calif. -- Federal agents captured 22 suspected illegal immigrants on a North County beach Tuesday, and then caught up with the two men who allegedly brought the group into the United States in a small fishing boat.

Sheriff's officials got a call shortly before 5:30 a.m. from someone who spotted the group getting off the 30-foot skiff near Swami's Beach in Encinitas, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection public affairs.

Deputies and Border Patrol agents found the suspected illegal immigrants -- 16 men and six women -- hiding in brush in the area and took them into custody. By that time, however, the boat was gone.

A short time later, Customs officers in a patrol airplane spotted the skiff off the coast of San Diego and notified the agency's marine personnel, who intercepted the vessel about five miles west of Point Loma.

The two Mexican nationals in the boat were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling.