A worker conducting a sea turtle nesting study on a Cape Canaveral beach in Florida found dozens of mysterious black packages wrapped in plastic - when she called authorities, they discovered it was
60 pounds (27 kilos) of cocaine. , with an estimated value of 1.2 million dollars.
Angy Chambers, wildlife officer for the 45th Civil Engineer Squadron at the Florida Space Station (CCSFS), spotted a carefully laminated rectangular package lying on the shore in the sand.
Then one more, and another.
That's when he alerted the Brevard County Sheriff's Department narcotics authorities.
Investigators recovered a total of 24 packages
after completing searches on the beach, which was closed during the operation.
One of the cocaine packages discovered on the beach at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Space Launch Delta 45
"While I was waiting for them to arrive, I moved a little further and noticed another package, and then another," Chambers said.
"I called them again and suggested that they bring their UTV (Utility Land Vehicle), as I had counted at least 18 packages."
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The packages were examined, sealed and sent to the US Department of Homeland Security for further investigation.
It is not clear how the drug got there, but Florida is a hotspot for drug trafficking operations from South America to the United States.
Traffickers often cross the Gulf of Mexico in boats and planes, and drugs are often dropped or thrown on purpose if the vessels are raided.
Authorities estimate the recovered cocaine packages to be worth $ 1.2 million.
Space Launch Delta 45
The United States Coast Guard said Monday that it seized more than 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilos) of cocaine, valued at $ 143.5 million, in three seizures made in international waters of the eastern Pacific between April 16 and 23 alone.
Drug packages on US beaches
The discovery of mysterious packages on American beaches that ended up as drug blocks is not isolated.
In late May, authorities in Matorga, a coastal Texas county, asked bathers not to pick up any suspicious items in the water after several packages of cocaine appeared ashore for days.
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Authorities warned that once the drug gets wet, it can seep into the package and be absorbed into the skin, affecting whoever touches it.
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Also in May, a week earlier, Alabama police reported that a group of night bathers
had found nearly 70 pounds of cocaine
in packages on a busy state beach.
Authorities said it will likely be impossible to determine the provenance of the 30 plastic-wrapped packages they recovered.
The cocaine found had an estimated value of over $ 1 million.
With information from The Guardian