Police say a man searching for sea turtle nests on a North Florida beach discovered more than 70 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $4 million.
The bizarre discovery was made Friday morning on a beach on Amelia Island in Nassau County. News4Jax reported.
Photos showed the 32-kilogram block of cocaine was wrapped in plastic with a picture of a bald eagle on top.
Law enforcement officials said the drugs are worth an estimated $1 million in bricks but have a street value of more than $4 million.
Beachgoers were shocked by the discovery.
“We came here looking for shark teeth, which aren’t as valuable as some of the other things that have washed up, but we’re still looking for shark teeth,” Paula Johns, a tourist from South Carolina, told the outlet.
It’s common for large amounts of packaged drugs to wash up on shore in South Florida, where smuggling is rampant, but it’s odd to find so much cocaine so far north.
“This is very unusual here in Nassau County,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said. “Years ago we had chunks of marijuana wash up on our shores, but as far as I know this is definitely unusual for something like this to wash up.”
Leeper believes it’s likely that drug smugglers dumped the cargo overboard.
“Probably the police or coast guard were on a boat approaching and they threw it overboard so they couldn’t claim it. The currents probably washed it up along the shoreline,” he said.
