Blocks Of Cocaine Valued At $1.2 Million Washes Ashore NASA Launch Center In Cape Canaveral

Sixty-five pounds of cocaine that drifted ashore on a beach at Cape Canaveral on Florida’s eastern coast last month has launched a full-scale investigation, a local wing of the Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.

Space Launch Delta 45 confirmed in a release that, on May 19, a wildlife manager was conducting sea turtle nesting surveys when she noticed small tightly wrapped packages along the shore and immediately alerted the 45^th Security Forces Squadron, Florida Today reported.

"While I was waiting for them to arrive, I drove a little further and noticed another package, and then another," Angy Chambers of the 45th Civil Engineer Squadron said. "I called SFS back and suggested they bring their UTV, or utility terrain vehicle, as I counted at least 18 packages."

Twenty-four packages that nearly weighed 65 pounds in total were recovered from the beach.

A Brevard County Sheriff’s Office narcotics agent confirmed that all the sealed packages contained cocaine as he performed an initial field test. The Sheriff's Office added that the drugs could be worth at least $1.2 million.

The drugs were brought to a secure location and turned over to the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agency, which examined the packages for unique markers and identifiers, the Independent reported.

HSI special agent David Castro said that maritime drug traffickers often transport bales of cocaine that include 25 "bricks" each.

Damaged or destroyed blocks during transport can lead to the individual bricks washing ashore. The investigation by Homeland Security is underway.

"We take pride in protecting our base and the surrounding community," 45th Space Forces Squadron Flight Sergeant Joseph Parker said in the release. "There is also a higher level of job satisfaction knowing that these drugs will not make it into our community."

Merritt Island, Florida's Cape Canaveral hosts the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) John F. Kennedy Space Center, also known as the NASA Launch Operations Center, one of the agency's ten field centers. Since December 1968, the facility has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight.

In a similar but unrelated story, packages of drugs also washed up on the beaches of Sussex, England on May 24, BBC News wrote.

The National Crime Agency said that some 960 kilograms of suspected cocaine were retrieved from the beach. The samples tested positive for the Class A drug.

Officers noted that the packages were all in waterproof bags and attached to life jackets to make them float.