A beachgoer finds $1.5 million in cocaine along the shore. In South Florida, this is not odd

Howard Cohen
·2 min read

A nostalgic memory for longtime South Florida beachgoers: the image of someone strolling the shoreline with a metal detector in hand, waving it along the sand. You seldom saw them find anything of value — maybe some coins, a beer can pop top or, if lucky, perhaps a ring — but it looked like a good exercise, anyway.

But this weekend’s find on a Palm Beach County beach would have given that beachgoer some strength training to go along with that cardio.

Try 65 pounds of cocaine, at an estimated $1.5 million in value, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent Thomas Martin and Agent Adam Hoffner of the Border Patrol’s Miami Sector.

“The drugs were discovered washed-up along the shoreline by a Good Samaritan near Ocean Drive,” Hoffner said. “The Good Samaritan notified local law enforcement in Palm Beach.”

Hoffner said the bundle contained 25 small packages of cocaine with about 65 pounds of the powder valued at over 1.5 million. The cocaine, found by the beachgoer on Friday, April 23, is now in custody of the U.S. Border Patrol.

This isn’t the first recent cocaine haul from a South Florida beach.

A nearly 70-pound bale of cocaine, in 25 wrapped packages, was found by a snorkeler off Craig Key in the Upper Keys in March, according to U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami Sector Agent Hoffner.

In October 2020, people found more than 30 pounds of marijuana washed up in two locations in the Florida Keys — 8 pounds of marijuana in Key Largo and 23 pounds near Big Pine Key, according to Hoffner. Add to these more than 50 pounds of cocaine washing up near Grassy Key and 29 bricks of cocaine in Marathon in July, according to Border Patrol.

Sometimes beach strollers find other things than drugs in South Florida.

A naval sea mine washed ashore along Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and was found by a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy on April 4, 2021.

And a U.S. military target drone washed ashore on the beach at Ocean Ridge Hammock Park in Ocean Ridge, Florida, on March 19, 2021, according to a report by WPTV-Channel 5 in West Palm Beach.

As for pop tops? Are those still a thing? File under antique.