Hurricane Debby not only brought strong winds and rising waters but also blew cocaine packages worth more than $1 million onto the Florida Keys beach, according to CBS News.
Officials said this is the latest drug discovery in a series of recent incidents along the coast of Florida, USA.
Mr. Samuel Briggs II, acting commander of the US Border Patrol, said: "Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (weighing more than 30 kg) onto a beach in the Florida Keys. People discovered the drugs and contacted the authorities. The US Border Guard confiscated these drugs."
Mr. Samuel Briggs emphasized that on the market, the value of these drugs is more than 1 million USD.
This is not the first time a storm has brought drugs to beaches in Florida. Previously, in 2019, people discovered many crackers of cocaine appearing on the beach after Hurricane Dorian landed.
In recent times, cocaine has been frequently discovered on the Florida coast. It is near transit hubs for drugs in the Caribbean, trafficked from South America to the US and Europe.
Mr. Briggs said that in June, boaters out in the Florida Keys discovered nearly 30 kilograms of drugs floating in the sea.
Earlier that month, some divers found 25 kg of cocaine at a depth of 30 m under the sea. The next day, a similar amount of cocaine was discovered washed up on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
According to CBS News, in May 2024, a resident while going to the beach discovered about $1 million worth of cocaine floating along the coast in the Florida Keys.
Meanwhile, in 2023, packages of cocaine worth more than $100,000 washed up on several beaches in Florida. The same year, Ms. Jane Castor, then mayor of Tampa (Florida), accidentally discovered more than 30 kg of cocaine while fishing.
