Walking along the beach next to the iconic Breakers resort in Palm Beach, there are a lot of things people might see: families relaxing under blue and white umbrellas, divers and swimmers in the sparkling Atlantic Ocean, vacationers taking selfies with the historic hotel on one side of the frame and the turquoise water on the other.
What one person recently found but most certainly was not expecting: 70 pounds of cocaine, each brick wrapped in black plastic with a white label bearing a soaring bald eagle, all under more layers of clear plastic and tape.
A "good Samaritan" at the Breakers discovered the drugs washed up on the beach last weekend and notified authorities, Samuel Briggs II, acting chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector, said in a post Wednesday on the social media platform X.
"Integrity is one of our core values. Glad to see it alive and well within the community," Briggs wrote of the person who turned in the drugs.
A spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector said the agency had no information to add beyond what was posted on X.
According to media reports, the same cartoon eagle label was spotted on cocaine bricks in two spots along Florida's east coast in June: Amelia Island, near Jacksonville, and in the Florida Keys.
The 65 pounds of cocaine found by a boater floating off the Keys in mid-June had an estimated street value of more than $1 million, Briggs wrote on X at the time.
The more than 70 pounds of cocaine found later in the month on the south end of Amelia Island was worth more than $4.8 million on the street, Nassau County sheriff's deputies told local news outlet Fox 13.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
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