Florida Keys

After Tropical Storm Debby passes, $1 million cocaine washed up in the Florida Keys

Packages of individually-wrapped cocaine are displayed on a table Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. The U.S. Border Patrol said it was found on a beach in Islamorada in the Florida Keys.
Packages of individually-wrapped cocaine are displayed on a table Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. The U.S. Border Patrol said it was found on a beach in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. US Border Patrol

A beachgoer found 25 packages of cocaine washed up on shore in the Florida Keys Sunday, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The drugs were located on a beach in the Upper Keys Village of Islamorada, said Adam Hoffner, assistant chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Miami sector.

The Border Patrol said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that the cocaine had a street value of more than $1 million.

Cocaine found floating offshore or on the beach of the Keys is actually a common occurrence.

During the last week of July, a diver hunting for spiny lobster found a kilo of cocaine in the ocean off the Upper Keys.

Last Tuesday, a person cleaning up trash near a seawall in Key Largo found a brick of cocaine, said Adam Linhardt, spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

In June, divers off Key Largo found what they initially thought to be a large pile of trash floating in about 100 feet of water. It turned out to be 25 kilograms of individually wrapped cocaine.

David Goodhue
Miami Herald
David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware. 
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