An astonishing discovery was made on a beach in the Florida Keys as Hurricane Debby slammed the Gulf Coast. A resident noticed some weird packets lying on the beach and upon inspection found that they contained cocaine. He alerted the US Border Patrol who quickly reached the spot. They discovered 25 packets containing 70 lbs of cocaine. The drugs are estimated to be worth a whopping $1 million and were inside a trash bag. Acting chief of the agency, patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II shared images of the illegal haul on social media, and wrote, “Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Good Samaritan discovered the drugs & contacted authorities. U.S. Border Patrol seized the drugs, which have a street value of over $1 million dollars.”
The cocaine packets were found strewn among seaweed and other debris that washed up on the beach. All the packets had a red symbol similar to an arrow on them and had been blown onto the coast because of Hurricane Debby.Â
Cocaine bricks and other drugs often wash up on southern Florida beaches amid efforts by smugglers to traffic the illegal substances from South America to the US.
A similar discovery was made in June when a beachgoer searching for sea turtle nests on a north Florida beach stumbled upon $4 million worth of cocaine bricks. The discovery in Nassau County was termed rare by officials as this is much farther north than where they usually wash up.
Hurricane Debby
The hurricane is threatening to bring record rains in the region, triggering catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surges. Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Monday morning and has killed five people till now. It has now been downgraded to a tropical storm and is moving north from Florida to Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. A state of emergency was declared by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 61 counties across the state. More than 274,000 households have lost power in the region.Â
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