Hurricane Debby brought more than powerful winds and storm surge to Florida — bundles of cocaine worth more than $1 million was also washed ashore, officials said, marking the latest in a string of new drug discoveries along Florida’s shores.
Debby, which hit the state as a Category 1 hurricane but has since been one downgraded to a tropical stormwashed the drugs ashore in the Florida Keys, US Border Patrol Acting Chief Patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II wrote on social media.
“Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys,” Briggs wrote, posting two photos of the packages.
US Border Patrol Acting Chief Patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II
Briggs said the amount of drugs, which has a street value of more than $1 million, was found by a good Samaritan who contacted authorities.
Cocaine has been found on numerous occasions on and near Florida’s beaches, which are not far from the Caribbean transit hubs for drugs human trafficking from South America to the US and Europe.
In June, vacationers are boasting off the coast of the Florida Keys found 65 pounds of cocaine floating in the ocean, Briggs said.
Earlier that month, divers found 25 kilos of cocaine approximately 100 feet underwater off Key West. The very next day, the same quantity of suspected cocaine was found washed on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
In May, a beachgoer found about $1 million worth of cocaine washed up along the Florida Keys, CBS News Miami reported.
In 2023, packages of cocaine worth more than $100,000 washed up on several beaches in Florida. Also last year, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, on a fishing trip with her family, rolled in 70 pounds of cocaine.
During 2019, bricks of cocaine were discovered on two beaches after Hurricane Dorian lashed the Florida coast.