Dozens of cocaine packages, worth $1.2m in total, washed ashore on a beach at Cape Canaveral on Florida’s eastern coast last month, the US Space Force has said.
Wildlife manager Angy Chambers, of the 45th Civil Engineer Squadron, was on the beach doing a nesting survey of sea turtles on 19 May when she found a small package covered in tape and plastic, Fox 13 reported.
Suspecting it could be drugs, she contacted the 45th Security Forces Squadron.
“While I was waiting for them to arrive, I drove a little further and noticed another package, and then another,” Ms Chambers said in a press release. “At that point, I called SFS back and suggested they bring their UTV, or Utility Terrain Vehicle, as I counted at least 18 packages.”
One of the packages was confirmed to hold cocaine after a field test by a narcotics agent from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Almost 30 kilos [66 lbs] of cocaine was found on the beach of the Space Force Station, spread out in 24 packages. The sheriff’s office estimated the value to be around $1.2m.
The packages were handed over to the Department of Homeland Security, who examined the packages for unique markers or identifiers.
Homeland Security Special Agent David Castro said drug traffickers operating out at sea often transport drug shipments in bales, adding that the bales are sometimes destroyed during the journey.
This leads to bricks containing drugs being lost in the water and eventually being washed ashore on the American coastline.
