A group of Florida boaters got more than they bargained for on Monday when they discovered a package containing 56 pounds of cocaine while fishing near Panther Key, between Marco Island and Everglades City. The boaters stumbled upon the large, microwave-sized package floating in the mangroves near Port of the Islands and quickly alerted the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies who recovered the bundle found 25 individually wrapped kilograms of cocaine inside, with an estimated street value of $625,000. The package, covered in barnacles, suggested it had been in the water for a significant amount of time.
Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk praised the boaters for their vigilance, saying, “We appreciate the help of Good Samaritans in our community who saw something unusual and contacted law enforcement.”
This discovery is reminiscent of the “square grouper” days of the 1970s and 1980s, when marijuana smuggling was rampant in Collier County.
Just last month, Hurricane Debby brought $1 million worth of cocaine to a Florida Keys beach.
Detectives are now working to trace the origins of the cocaine, which they believe may have been carried in by tides from the east coast.
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