The French are puzzled: the Atlantic coast flooded with cocaine packages
The French have a very special environmental problem: the washing up of packages filled with cocaine along the Atlantic coast. Since mid-October more than 700 kilos of the white stuff has been found. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has launched an investigation and warns against the packages. A number of beaches have already been closed to the public, French media report.
The packages can pose a public health hazard because they contain cocaine with a purity of 83 percent, said the OM in Rennes (Brittany) this afternoon. In addition to cocaine, the packages also contain crack, a smokable variant of cocaine. Finders must immediately alert the police. He urges them not to touch the drugs. Both the contents and the packaging can be hazardous to health, partly due to 'fumes'. Transporting the packages is punishable. Drug smuggling has a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
The first bales of plastic packages were washed up on 17 October, but the number has been increasing since 4 November, the authorities note. The counter is now at 763 kilos. The phenomenon is so great that 'intensive surveillance' has been announced by police and customs, among others. A large number of beaches are already closed to the public. This was ordered by the police and on pain of severe criminal sanctions.
According to the OM, the entire Atlantic coast is struggling with the problem. From Les Landes at the Spanish border to the mouth of the Loire River above Nantes. In the latter region, 10 kilos of cocaine were found this morning at Pornic, not far from Saint-Nazaire. More than 400 kilometers south of Arcachon, packages containing 12 kilos of white gold were discovered. The OM in Rennes therefore works closely with the public prosecutors of Saint-Nazaire, Bordeaux and Dax.
The French authorities suspect that the bales of drugs have been thrown overboard from a ship during a storm or damage. According to the French police, she works closely with colleagues in other EU countries and with the American drug control organization DEA.
