Treasure hunters in France don’t need to bring their metal detectors to the beach anymore as around $80M worth of booty have already washed up on the shore — this time in the form of drugs like cocaine.
Authorities have closed down beaches across France’s southwest region after close to 900 kilograms of cocaine and other drugs started to wash up on its Atlantic coast in mid-October, a french prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.
After setting up patrols on the beaches, French police have also begun warning people who come across any suspicious packages to stay away from them.
The cocaine picked up on the coast was reportedly tested to be “very pure”, as much as 83 per cent in purity.
The purity of cocaine typically found on the streets in Canada ranges from 30 to 40 per cent, OPP Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum told Global News in a previous interview.
“Intense surveillance has been set up by different services, notably the customs agency, all along the French coast,” Rennes public prosecutor Philippe Astruc office told AFP Sunday.
“In this form it’s a very dangerous product that could cause an overdose.”
These warnings, however, weren’t enough to stop beachcombers from trying to sneak away with some treasure of their own.
Police told AFP that a 17-year-old was caught Monday with five kilograms of the popular party drug at a beach near the city of Bourdeaux. He was reported to have driven three hours from Toulouse just to get to the beach.
Close to half a dozen beaches have been closed in total.
Police have also begun to stop any nearby walkers, as well as searching cars that leave from the parking lots adjacent to the beaches.
Anyone in France caught with drugs such as cocaine can receive a 10-year jail term, according to BBC News.
Astruc said that the packages “very probably” contained drugs that originated from South America.
“It’s a very pure product that must not be consumed in this form because there is a very high risk of overdose,” Astruc told France 2 TV. “There is absolutely an immediate health risk.”
It was only on Monday that a statement was put out as to how much cocaine was retrieved — a whopping 763 kilos, valued at $80M (€60M) since it first started arriving according to The Guardian.
Since then, another 109 kilograms of drugs have been retrieved by French authorities, bringing the total to 872 kilograms within a span of two days, Astruc told AFP in a statement.
Some officials have reported the drug packages have been found on beaches near Nantes, to Biarritz, which rests 500 kilometres to the south.
France’s Sud Ouest newspaper first reported that beachgoers discovered two packages containing 3 kilograms of cocaine at a beach on Arcachon, just south-west of Bordeaux Friday.
The newspaper said that some of packages had markings on them with the word “diamante” or “brillante”, which were similar to packages reported to have washed ashore in Florida during Hurricane Dorian in September, The Guardian reports.
French authorities are now working with international agencies as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to ascertain why the drugs are washing up on its shores, according to AFP.
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