EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. — Florida deputies report finding a package containing more than half a million dollars worth of cocaine floating in the Gulf of Mexico near Everglades City.
In a Facebook post, the Collier County Sheriff's Office posted a photo showing multiple packages of cocaine with a blurred-out blue logo on all of them.
Deputies say on Monday, boaters found 56 pounds of cocaine floating in mangroves off Panther Key near Port of the Islands.
The package reportedly was the size of a microwave oven, with 25 individually wrapped kilograms of cocaine. Officials estimate the street value to be $625,000.
“We appreciate the help of good Samaritans in our community who saw something unusual and contacted law enforcement,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement.
CCSO says the discovery is similar to the “square grouper” marijuana smuggling days that took place in the county during the 1970s and 1980s.
Detectives say the cocaine was likely washed in with the tides from the east coast because of recent storm events.
"Large packages of drugs ranging from marijuana to hashish to cocaine have been discovered floating in the waters off Miami and the Florida Keys," the sheriff's office wrote in the post.
The investigation into the cocaine's origin is ongoing.
