$1.4 Billion Worth of Drugs Wash Ashore on Beach After Hurricane

Pedestrian Found and Reported at Florida Beach, USA
Total of 25 Boxes Weighing 31kg Found

Hurricane 'Debby,' accompanied by powerful rain and wind, struck the southeastern United States, washing ashore cocaine worth approximately 1.4 billion won on a beach in Florida.

On the 6th (local time), the British daily The Guardian reported that the U.S. Border Patrol Miami sector revealed that 25 boxes of cocaine were washed ashore on the Florida Keys beach due to heavy rain and strong winds brought by Hurricane Debby. The cocaine was discovered and reported by a passerby, weighing a total of 70 pounds (31.7 kg). The estimated market value is around 1 million dollars (approximately 1.37 billion won).

Due to Hurricane 'Debby', 25 boxes of cocaine washed up on the beaches of Florida.
[Photo by Samuel Bricks, U.S. Border Patrol, X capture]

Samuel Bricks, acting patrol chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Miami sector, shared photos of the boxes of cocaine washed ashore on X (formerly Twitter). The photos show that all the boxes containing cocaine were wrapped in plastic, with red symbols on a black background. It is known that all the cocaine has been seized. The large amount of cocaine washed ashore and seized due to the hurricane's impact is considered an unusual event.

Earlier, Debby made landfall on the southern coast of Florida on the 5th local time as a Category 1 hurricane. With strong winds of 130 km/h and heavy rain, damage has been widespread locally. Trees fell on houses, and cars slipped on wet roads, resulting in five deaths in Florida alone. In Georgia, one person died after a tree fell on a house, bringing the death toll to at least six so far. Some areas experienced concentrated rainfall exceeding 400 mm along with strong winds, about 300,000 households suffered power outages, and nearly 2,000 flights were canceled.

Currently, Debby has weakened to a tropical storm but still brings heavy rain and strong winds of 64 to 80 km/h. Moving slowly at less than 10 km/h along the southeastern U.S. coast, it is forecasted to bring up to 760 mm of heavy rain. States including Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have declared a state of emergency, with local reports describing the rainfall as a once-in-a-millennium event.