Aug 06, 2024 08:32 AM IST
Storm Debby washed off Cocaine worth millions of dollars on the beach in the Florida Keys.
Storm Debby which developed from a tropical disturbance to a storm in the Gulf of Mexico made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, August 5. The Hurricane caused vast destruction of businesses, homes and infrastructure and bruised the Big Bend with its repeated blows. According to officials, the storm deposited $1 million worth of cocaine on the coast of Florida Keys.
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Storm Deby carries million-dollar cocaine to the Florida Keys
The US Border Patrol reported that the strong wings of the storm blowing at a speed of 80 miles per hour carried more than two dozen 70-pound packages of cocaine and deposited it on the shore. The acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II of the US Patrol posted about the substance found on the microblogging site, X.
He 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,” along with a picture of the packages which had a red triangular symbol at its centre.
The packages were first found by a beachgoer who immediately called up authorities to report the stash and later seized by the US Border Patrol. The packages were wrapped around with seaweed, debris and other trash from the storm, as reported by The New York Post.
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Previous encounters of cocaine wash-ups during storm
Storm season often deposits several things including trash and drugs on the shores, especially in the region of southern Florida. This is a result of smugglers trafficking illegal substances from South America to the US. A beachgoer found bricks of cocaine worth $4 million while he was looking for the nests of sea turtles. The officials were shocked that the packages travelled up to Nassau County which is far North from the usual spots in the south.
Meanwhile, Storm Debby will bring more rain followed by floods as it makes its way to the North from Florida to Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina