A man diving in the waters of the Florida Keys (US) tourist found a bag floating next to a beacon in which some 20 blocks of cocaine worth more than $ 1.5 million had been discovered, authorities reported on Thursday. .
As the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the southernmost tip of Florida where the Keys are located, said in a tweet, “a Good Samaritan” discovered 68 pounds of cocaine worth more than $ 1.5 million on Wednesday.
“The person saw a large black suit wrapped in tape and contacted the local authorities. The bag contained 25 cubes of cocaine,” said local police.
The find took place near the islet of Craig Key, located next to Interstate US1 landmark 72, which leads to the Keys.
The Monroe Sheriff’s Office immediately notified the United States Border Patrol (CBP), who arrived on the scene and took over the black bag containing the drugs wrapped in duct tape.
The Coast Guard has increased the presence of the United States and its allies in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Basins, well-known drug transport zones in Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere strategy to combat drug trafficking.
Together with combined forces from the Dominican Republic and Panama, they seized about 1,814 kilograms of cocaine in Caribbean waters between December 2020 and January last year, with a black market value of about $ 69 million, as reported by the Coast Guard earlier this year. . .