Hurricane Debby didn’t just stir up a storm in the Southeast last week… it also delivered over 100 pounds of cocaine to Florida’s shores.
It’s true. It seems the filmmakers behind 2023’s Cocaine Shark were prophetic.
On August 4, US Customs and Border Patrol in Miami reported the discovery of 25 packages of nose candy on a beach in Islamorada, a village located in the Florida Keys, approximately 80 miles from Key West.
An anonymous tipster notified authorities upon discovering packages weighing approximately 70 pounds. The packages contained cocaine with an estimated street value exceeding $1 million, according to the agency.
Samuel Briggs, the acting chief patrol agent for the Miami sector of the US Border Patrol, posted a photo on X showcasing the impressive stash of seized drugs.
A week later, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office reported the discovery of another shipment of cocaine, valued at over half a million dollars, floating off the coast near Everglades City in the Gulf of Mexico.
Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk praised the vigilant boaters who acted as good Samaritans by reporting the narcotics they found floating in the mangroves near Panther Key, as highlighted in a recent Facebook post from the agency.
How Recent Hurricane Activity Made Florida Beaches White… with Cocaine
Boaters discovered a package weighing 56 pounds, later identified as cocaine, roughly the size of a microwave oven. According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, it contained 25 individually wrapped kilograms of the drug, with an estimated street value of $625,000, according to authorities.
“We appreciate the help of Good Samaritans in our community who saw something unusual and contacted law enforcement,” Rambosk wrote in the post.
Authorities indicated that the barnacles encrusting the package suggested the narcotics remained submerged for some time.
“The find was reminiscent of the ‘square grouper’ marijuana smuggling days in Collier County during the 1970s and 1980s but uncommon for today,” the Facebook post added.
Meanwhile, detectives from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, along with the vice and narcotics bureau, are investigating the origins of the drugs.
“Detectives said the cocaine most likely washed in with the tides from the east coast due to recent storms,” the post pointed out. “Large packages of drugs ranging from marijuana to hashish to cocaine have been discovered floating in the waters off Miami and the Florida Keys.”