Cocaine Washed Up On Beaches

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Health, Society

For most people beach combing is a fun and a relaxing thing to do. However, as more and more unwanted things wash ashore, it is becoming a hazardous occupation and not something you encourage your kids to do.

A two pound brick of illegal drugs was recently found washed up on the beach on Dauphin Island, Alabama, by volunteers who were cleaning the beach on a Saturday morning.

“The cocaine was packaged in black garbage bag-like material and cellophane and sealed up almost water-tight,” says Anthony LaFrenier, Dauphin Island Police Officer.

LaFrenier says it could have been on a boat that sank, or it could have thrown it over from a boat the U.S. Coast Guard was about to search. It is estimated the package could have a street value of $60,000 or more.

In September, a 56 year old man discovered a brick of cocaine on Delray Beach, Florida. Police instantly confiscated the package.

In May beachcombers found two dozen neatly wrapped packages of cocaine weighing around 50 pounds, on a beach west of Se Rim State Park, in Sabine Pass, Texas. It was estimated the find was worth about $500.000. According to Major Jimmy Singletary with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said the cocaine was wrapped in 24 separate packages, each weighing one kilo (or 2.2 pounds).

In Feb 2008 a wildlife researcher and his partner found packages of cocaine, wrapped in sacking, at Kynance Cove, near Helston, in the United Kingdom.

The packages were covered in goose barnacles, which are native to the waters of the Caribbean. It is believed they may have drifted thousands of miles across the Atlantic in strong winds and tides. It is believed the seizure was valued at millions of pounds.

Other packages were washed up in Bude, U.K., a short time later.

In Dec 2006 police recovered around 37 kilos of cocaine, from a Hollywood beach, valued at around $400,000.

The warning is, that when your kids go to the beach, make sure you know what they are picking up.

Tags: beachcombing, cocaine found on beaches, cocaine recovered from beaches, news