France beaches are being inundated with mysterious packages of cocaine that continue to wash up on the sands. The drug parcels have been appearing along the country’s Atlantic coast since mid-October. Most recently a five-kilo package arrived on the beach at Camaret-sur-Mer in Brittany.
Some packages have been found as far south as the resort town of Biarritz.
In total, more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine have been discovered, Philippe Astruc, the public prosecutor in Rennes, told AFP.
“It’s the same cargo,” Astruc said, “we’re going to still be finding them for a while.”
“Each tide brings in a batch. They are still fairly significant with around 100 kilos arriving each day all along the coast,” he said.
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Around 100 investigators are now working with European counterparts as well as the US Drug Enforcement Agency in a bid to solve the mystery of where the drugs are coming from, Astruc said.
The cocaine is extremely pure at around 83 percent making it very dangerous indeed.
People are being warned to not touch the packages if they spot them and to alert the police.
Many have tried to get their hands on the cocaine as the street value of the stuff would come to millions of euros.
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On Monday, a 17-year-old from Toulouse was caught with five kilos of cocaine at Lacanau, a closed-off surfing beach near Bordeaux, reported AFP.
To crack down on the drugs being taken, French police have been forced to close down beaches and start carrying out patrols.
“We fear that people will try and find these products and use them – which is incredibly dangerous – and that traffickers or would-be traffickers will say ‘we can make some money here,’” said Astruc.
One woman recalled spotting a parcel: “When we turned around we saw a package next to the water,” she told AFP.
The woman – who gave her name as Martine – said she alerted the police who estimated it weighed roughly four kilos before sealing it in a plastic bag.
“It would have been tempting to take it, but we’re honest!” she said.
Astruc said in a statement that a likely explanation for the cocaine’s provenance was “they were jettisoned because of a mechanical problem or during a storm.”
Investigators are examining maritime logs from mid-October for clues about where the drugs might have come from, he said Tuesday.
The Sud-Ouest newspaper reported over the weekend that some parcels found on the beach at Arcachon, southwest of Bordeaux, were labelled “Diamante” or “Brillante”.
According to the most recent data available from the EU’s European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, police seized a record of more than 140 tons of cocaine across Europe in 2017.
Most of the cocaine was seized in Belgium and Spain, long the main port of entry for the drug, and its purity has increased markedly over the past ten years, the agency said.
In further France news, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has updated its travel advice for Christmas markets in the country.
“There is a general threat from terrorism,” warned the FCO.
“There may be increased security in place over the festive period, including at Christmas markets and other major events that might attract large crowds. You should remain vigilant and follow the advice of local authorities.”