Hurricane Debby brought high winds and storm surge as it traveled up and ultimately came ashore on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It also washed packages of cocaine worth more than $1 million ashore in Islamorada in the Florida Keys, officials said.
Debby, which slammed into the state as a Category 1 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, washed the drugs ashore in the Florida Keys, U.S. Border Patrol acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II wrote on social media.
Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Good Samaritan discovered the drugs & contacted authorities. U.S. Border Patrol seized the drugs, which have a street value of over $1 million dollars.#Hurricane #Debby #Florida #floridakeys pic.twitter.com/nsjKu6qm8V
— Samuel Briggs II (@USBPChiefMIP) August 5, 2024
The New York Times reports that drug packages have appeared on Florida’s shores before. In 2019, a police department in Cocoa Beach warned the public to be cautious after a duffel bag stuffed with 15 kilograms, or about 33 pounds, of powdered cocaine washed up during Hurricane Dorian, according to Florida Today. Soon after, another kilogram of cocaine was found on a beach in Melbourne. And in 1996, dozens of cocaine packages that had been dropped or dumped by smugglers also swept ashore on two beaches.