A beachgoer spotted a massive package of cocaine floating at sea off the Florida Keys. The drugs were later estimated to have a $1 million street value. Over the weekend, the boater discovered the drugs near the island of Islamorada in the upper Keys. After the discovery, the Good Samaritan alerted the authorities, said a report in Miami Herald.
Thomas G. Martin, chief patrol agent with the U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, first reported the incident. Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Southeast Division assisted border agents to recover the shipment. The Border Patrol, which safeguards that region, got support from the U.S. Coast Guard to reclaim the massive haul of drugs.
Martin, on Twitter, shared a photo from the recovered haul. According to him, the package contained almost 69 pounds of coke. The picture showed what appeared to be 25 separate bags stacked on top of each other. The packages containing the cocaine have been wrapped in plastic. The incident is currently under investigation.
Cocaine washing ashore happens rather regularly. This is not the first time a massive drug package was found in the waters of the Florida Keys. Packages of cocaine have been earlier recovered off the Keys.
Back in August, about 65 pounds of cocaine washed up on the beaches. Martin shared a post on Twitter showing drug packages that were handed in by another good samaritan. “Over the weekend, a Good Samaritan discovered 1.3 million dollars worth of cocaine washed-up along the shoreline in the Florida Keys. The large black package contained 65 lbs. of cocaine & was turned over to #BorderPatrol custody,”read the tweet.
The waters off the Keys have had several encounters with “high tides”, over the last few months. In March, a snorkeler stumbled upon a floating bale estimated at a street value of over $1.5 million.
For fiscal year 2021, Border Patrol seized 97,638 pounds of cocaine across the country, accounting for over 37 percent of drug busts. According to data from CBP, there have been over 700 drug seizure events from January to September of this year, by the agency’s air and marine operations.
State’s iconic archipelago, Florida keys offers tourists and locals more than 100 miles of serenity, snorkeling, fishing and scuba diving.
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