Texas floods spur drug purges from waiting ships: police

By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The storm system pelting Texas with torrential rains this week has caused a stream of illegal drugs to wash up on the shores around Galveston, near a backed-up Houston Shipping Channel, police said on Wednesday. With fewer ships coming into port where entry has been slowed due to the storms, there have been more onboard inspections, and more people have been dumping contraband into the water before the U.S. officials turn up in their cabin, police said. "Six wash-ups within the last week," said Sergeant Joshua Schirard of the Galveston Police. "Two of them were cocaine and the other four were marijuana," he said. The latest was a 66 pound (30 kg) package of cocaine that washed ashore on Monday. Schirard says Galveston sees drugs washing up on its beaches usually once every other month. That has picked up this week due to bottlenecks at the Houston Shipping Channel, which is experiencing delays due to the storms that have snarled transport. "Coast Guard and Customs are taking advantage to check these boats so when they get into the channel they have already been cleared," Schirard said. "These guys see agents boarding the boat ahead of them and they know this is coming, so they go ahead and ditch these narcotics overboard." (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)