Millions of Dollars Worth of Cocaine Keep Washing Up on The Beaches of Florida

Joe Raedle. Getty Images.

NY Post - “Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys,” US Border Patrol acting chief patrol agent Samuel Briggs II said in a social media post.

Briggs shared photos of the taped-up bricks of cocaine which featured a glowing red triangular symbol on them.

He said the drugs have a street value that surpasses $1 million.

A beachgoer discovered the drugs — wrapped inside a trash bag — among seaweed, leaves and other debris that washed up on the beach, according to photos posted in reply to Briggs’ post.

The man contacted authorities about the washed-up stash and the US Border Patrol seized the pricey packages.

Hurricanes are bad. They destroy property. People die. Animals die. Entire cities flood. And sometimes the hurricane rips millions of dollars worth of cocaine out of the hands of honest hard-working South American drug cartels and it ends up washing ashore on a beach in the Florida Keys. 

Then some pedestrian walking along the beach stumbles upon the 25 packages (70 lbs.) worth of cocaine and thinks to himself, "Fuck what should I do? Maybe I should take this home, cut the drugs, turn my 70 lbs. worth of cocaine into 140 lbs., then take a trip to Miami and find someone who I can make a one-time sale to and walk away with a few hundred thousand dollars. Or maybe I should sell the drugs in smaller increments to maximize my profits. I could quit my job, move to South Beach, infiltrate the drug/nightlife scene and become a full time dealer. I'll get a bunch of tattoos, wear nothing but white linen clothing, hang out with OnlyFans models, possibly develop a cocaine addiction myself. Maybe it turns out I have a knack for selling drugs and this is the start of my drug empire." 

But after some deliberation he decides to do the right thing and call it in to the authorities. A bunch of people from the Border Patrol and DEA pull up in vans. They make a whole big scene out of it. The cops tell guy who found the drugs, "Thanks for calling this in man, but we got it from here. You can go home."

So the guy goes back to his regular, boring life. Then the next day he sees the story on the news. Some guy named Samuel Briggs II from the U.S. Border Patrol is getting all the credit for a job well done. All while the guy who actually found the drugs sits at home on his couch with his thumb up his ass. No reward money or anything. Best case scenario, a few days later he'll gets a call from the police department and they'll award him with a plaque.

Stories of drugs washing up on beaches seem to pop up once every few months. Or at least a couple times a year during hurricane season. Just a couple months back somebody in north Florida happened upon $4 million worth of cocaine.

In June, a beachgoer scouring a north Florida beach for sea turtle nests instead stumbled upon $4 million worth of cocaine bricks.

The discovery stunned law enforcement, which said it’s rare for the drugs to make it to Nassau County, which is much farther north than where they usually wash up.

In all of these stories, the person who found the drugs turned them into the police. But as often as it happens, you know there are times where people try to keep the drugs for themselves. That's the story I'm interested in hearing. Did he get away with it? Was he able to sell them off? Did he end up getting addicted and ruin his life? Did the cartel who lost the drugs somehow manage to track him down and blow his brains out? I like to think somewhere out there is a person pulled that off. Some lucky guy who was walking along the beach one day, found hundreds of pounds worth of neatly packaged blow, then somehow managed to transport it all back to his home, find a buyer, make a million dollars and ride off into the sunset completely unscathed. 

That man would be my hero. It could literally happen to anyone. Now that Hurricane Debby has come and gone, it's very possible that somewhere on a beach in Florida right now is a life-changing amount of cocaine just sitting there for the taking. God speed and good luck to anybody who comes across it and is brave enough to risk it all.