WASHINGTON — Sixteen Marines were arrested on Thursday at a military base in Southern California and charged with an array of offenses, including human smuggling and drug violations, the Marine Corps said in a statement.

At about 7:30 a.m., at the regular morning formation of the First Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, the 16 Marines were summoned to the front of the 800-member ranks at Camp Pendleton and placed under arrest by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, according to Lt. Cameron Edinburgh, a spokesman for the First Marine Division at the base.

The Marines are suspected of smuggling undocumented immigrants into the United States, but Lieutenant Edinburgh said he did not have any information on the scope, duration or other details of the alleged operations.

The service members who were detained were all junior enlisted Marines — privates first class, lance corporals and corporals, the lieutenant said.