Sixty-five pounds of cocaine worth more than $1m was seized by authorities after boaters found it floating in the Florida Keys.
Pictures of the massive haul showed around 21 individually wrapped packages, which were emblazoned with a large image of a North American bald eagle.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), sailors on a private vessel came across the packages in the water seven miles from Islamorada, an archipelago south of Miami on Saturday.
The packages were suspected to contain cocaine, which was later confirmed by the US Border Patrol.
Samuel Briggs, Acting Chief Patrol Agent for the USBP said the estimated street value of the drugs was more than $1m.
Briggs shared a video to X, which showed the packages being confiscated by officers. “We appreciate the support from Good Samaritans in our community,” he wrote.
It is the third large haul of drugs to be confiscated in the area in the last two months.
In early June MCSO announced that 25 individually wrapped kilograms of suspected cocaine was found by scuba divers about 100ft underwater in Key Largo, in Florida.
The packages carried imitation pictures of the Nike sportswear logo and were also confiscated by Border Patrol.
The divers stated they were removing what they thought was trash when the discovery was made, according to the MCSO.
The Sheriff’s Office turned over the suspected narcotics to the US Border Patrol.
CBS Miami also reported in May that another package containing 65 pounds of cocaine was found by a beachgoer after it washed up along the Florida Keys.
The value of that find, authorities estimated, was also around $1m.
