Florida police officials reported at least 16 bricks — totaling at least 26 kilograms of cocaine — washed ashore, brought in by strong waves from Hurricane Dorian.
ABC News reported Wednesday morning on incidents on two separate Florida beaches, where bricks of cocaine were discovered.
Hurricane Dorian has washed up bricks of cocaine on Florida’s coast pic.twitter.com/HldhSzClI4
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 6, 2019
Melbourne police officers responded to a beachgoer’s reports of a suspicious package on the shores of Paradise Beach Park.
According to a Melbourne police spokeswoman, a Melbourne officer found a package prepared in a way “consistent with narcotics.”
After performing tests, police determined the brick-shaped package contained a kilogram of cocaine.
The package appeared to have word printed on the outside, though only a part of the type “DIAMANT,” was visible from a picture of the package shared by the Melbourne Police Department with ABC News affiliate KYTX.
It is not yet known what all was written on the brick of cocaine, and NBC News reported the Melbourne police will not yet say, as an investigation of the brick continues.
The Paradise Beach Park discovery came only a few hours after a previous discovery of another 15 bricks of cocaine on Cocoa Beach, some 20 miles away.
Cocoa Beach Police Sergeant Manny Hernandez said police were called to Cocoa Beach when a duffel bag washed ashore.
The prior discovery found the bricks contained 25 kilograms of cocaine.
Hernandez noted that a single kilogram of cocaine could be worth between $20,000 and $30,000.
Hernandez said the bricks of cocaine have since been turned over to U.S. Custom and Border Protection. The packages are currently under investigation.
It is not yet known whether the package found on Paradise Beach Park is related to the packages found in the duffel bag on Cocoa Beach.
It is also not yet known where the cocaine originated from or if investigators have identified any suspects.
Hurricane Dorian moved slowly up the eastern coast as a Category 2 storm, bringing heavy winds and rains to coastal areas.
The storm previously stalled over the islands of the Bahamas over the weekend during its peak strength as a category 5 hurricane.
More than 30 deaths were reported in the Bahamas as of Thursday night, according to Weather.com, though the death toll is projected to rise much higher rescue and recovery efforts continue.
