Crime & Safety
Since Last Summer, Drugs Keep Washing Ashore In The Keys: Report
For nearly a year, bundles of cocaine and marijuana have regularly washed up in the Florida Keys, with some worth millions, reports said.
FLORIDA KEYS — Since last summer, fishermen, boaters and others enjoying the water have regularly found bundles of cocaine and marijuana that washed ashore at various places in the Florida Keys. Some of the drug packages have been worth millions of dollars, according to reports.
The most recent finds came Wednesday and Thursday, when one 2.4-pound (1.1 kilograms) package of cocaine was found each day in Islamorada, FL Keys News reported. One of the bundles was found at a park near the village’s city hall.
These are just the latest finds in nearly a year of drugs regularly washing ashore the 125-mile-long island chain, though.
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Another 2.4-pound cocaine bundle was found May 17 by anglers in Lower Matecumbe Key, reports said.
And even larger amounts have been found. A boater off Key Largo fished a sack containing 25 packages of cocaine — weighing 73 pounds and valued at about $1.7 million — from the water April 30, the Miami Herald reported.
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The next day, May 1, another boater near Marathon found a sack with five bundles of marijuana weighing 62 pounds and worth around $100,000.
In early March, a snorkeler discovered 25 bricks of cocaine floating in a bag near Craig Key, ClickOrlando reported. That haul weighed 68 pounds and was valued at $1.7 million.
Another 74 pounds of cocaine were found by a fisherman just south of Sugarloaf Key in December, the Herald reported. And in August, 130 pounds of marijuana worth about $260,000 were found floating in open waters near Key Colony Beach, and another 8 pounds were found near Ramrod Key in September, reports said.
In July, 50 pounds of cocaine worth $884,000 was reported floating along the coastline in the Florida Keys, reports said.
Drugs have mysteriously washed ashore in other areas of South Florida as well. At the end of April, 65 pounds of cocaine — worth about $1.5 million — were found in Palm Beach, WTXL reported.
In all cases, the drugs were turned in to authorities and handed over to the U.S. Border Patrol, reports said.
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