Half a million dollars worth of cocaine found floating near Everglades City

Published: Updated:
Cocaine
CREDIT: Collier County Sheriff’s Office

Collier County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after boaters found a package containing more than a half-million dollars worth of cocaine was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico near Everglades City on Monday.

The boaters found 56 pounds of cocaine floating in mangroves off Panther Key near Port of the Islands, CCSO said.

The package, about the size of a microwave oven, contained 25 individually wrapped kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $625,000.

“We appreciate the help of Good Samaritans in our community who saw something unusual and contacted law enforcement,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said.

CCSO recovered the bundle of cocaine, which was covered in barnacles. This indicated that the package was in the water for a while.

Detectives with the CCSO’s Vice and Narcotics Bureau are working to determine the cocaine’s origin.

Detectives said the cocaine most likely washed in with the tides from the east coast due to recent storms.

CCSO said that large packages of drugs ranging from marijuana to hashish to cocaine have been discovered floating in the waters off Miami and the Florida Keys.

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