Beachgoer finds $4M worth of cocaine bricks on Florida beach

Beachgoer finds $4M worth of cocaine bricks on Florida beach

A man searching for sea turtle nests on a north Florida beach made a startling discovery. Instead of turtle nests, he stumbled upon more than 70 pounds of cocaine bricks. Also, they had a street value of $4 million, according to police. The unexpected find occurred Friday morning on Amelia Island beach in Nassau County, as reported by News4Jax.

The 32 kilograms of cocaine bricks, each wrapped in plastic with a picture of a bald eagle on top, were found by the beachgoer. Law enforcement officials estimated the drugs’ value at $1 million in brick form. However, he noted that the street value exceeds $4 million.

Beachgoers were astonished upon learning about the discovery.

“We came out looking for shark teeth, but their value is not quite the street value of the other stuff that’s washing up. But we’re still looking for shark teeth,” said Paula Johns, a tourist from South Carolina.

While it’s common for large quantities of packaged drugs to wash ashore in southern Florida due to rampant smuggling, finding such a large amount of cocaine so far north is unusual. “It’s very rare here in Nassau County,” stated Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper. “Many years ago, there were bales of marijuana that washed up on the beach, but to my knowledge, something like this washing up is certainly a rare event.”

Sheriff Leeper speculated that the drug smugglers likely threw the load overboard to avoid detection by law enforcement or the Coast Guard.

“More than likely, it was on a boat that law enforcement or Coast Guard was getting close to and they just threw it overboard to get rid of it so they didn’t have possession of it. The sea current just washes it up along the coastline,” he explained.

Source: News4Jax

Beachgoer finds $4M worth of cocaine bricks on Florida beach