Weather
Debby Washes Ashore $1M In Cocaine In FL Keys: Border Patrol
A Good Samaritan found 25 packages of cocaine that had washed ashore by Hurricane Debby, the deadly storm that pounded Florida.
![A driver negotiates a flooded street as Tropical Storm Debby passes just to the west of the Tampa Bay, Fla., region, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/ap/26200734/20240805/025523/styles/patch_image/public/ap24217708053821___05141824213.jpg)
FLORIDA KEYS — Hurricane Debby, the Category 1 storm that pummeled parts of Florida Monday, washed ashore at least $1 million of cocaine in the Florida Keys, the U.S. Border Patrol said.
About 25 packages of the suspected cocaine were found by a Good Samaritan, who notified authorities, said Samuel Briggs II, the acting chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol - Miami Sector.
Briggs tweeted photos of the suspected cocaine, which he said Debby blew onto a beach. He added the U.S. Border Patrol has seized the cocaine.
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After making landfall in Florida's Big Bend, impacts from Debby killed a 13-year-old Levy County boy after a tree fell on his mobile home, local authorities said. The storm has since weakened to a tropical storm and set its sights on southeast Georgia.
Monday is not the first time drugs have washed ashore on Florida beaches, specifically in the Florida Keys.
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Most recently, on July 24, Briggs tweeted someone diving for lobster found a cocaine brick in the Keys. In mid-July, he said 70 pounds of cocaine washed ashore near the Breakers Resort in Palm Beach and was found by a Good Samaritan.
Briggs said in June that 260 pounds of cocaine had washed ashore along the Florida coastline in two months.
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