U.S. Border Patrol agents seized over $1 million worth of cocaine last week after it washed up on a Florida beach.
Thirty packages were discovered last Monday by a person on the beach in Hollywood, Florida, just south of Fort Lauderdale, according to a statement from U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector. The beachgoer contacted the Hollywood Police Department, the statement said, who then turned the packages filled with cocaine over to Border Patrol agents.
“The 30 packages of cocaine weighed approximately 78 pounds with an estimated street value of over one million dollars,” the statement said.
Miami Sector Border Patrol has recently responded to “multiple reports of narcotic wash-ups” on the Florida coast, the agency said. Over the course of July and August, Border Patrol Miami Sector has seized over 210 pounds of cocaine, the statement said.
Chief Patrol Agent of U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector John Modlin said the rise in drugs washing ashore indicated the presence of smugglers operating along the Florida coast.
“These recent seizures represent hundreds of pounds of narcotics that will not make it into our streets or into our communities,” Modlin said in a statement to CNN. “We are grateful for the community’s support to our border security mission here in Florida.”
