SAN DIEGO -- Three teenagers face drug smuggling charges after federal officers caught them transporting more than half a ton of marijuana into U.S. waters in a small sailboat, authorities reported Tuesday.

About noon Saturday, a Coast Guard crew spotted the 22-foot skiff off the coast of southern San Diego and decided to escort it to Shelter Island so the three youths aboard could report in to U.S. Customs and Border Protection following their purported fishing trip to Ensenada, Mexico, according to CBP public affairs.

After the boat docked in San Diego Bay, agents looked it over with a service dog, which alerted them to contraband in the back end of the privately owned craft. Underneath the deck, the officers found 277 packages of cannabis weighing a total of 1,060 pounds.

The young U.S. citizens aboard the vessel -- two men, ages 18 and 19, and a 19-year-old woman -- were arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for prosecution.

The suspects' names were withheld.

» Slideshow: Unusual Smuggling Attempts