砂浜に１．４億円相当のコカイン ハリケーン上陸の米フロリダ

【マイアミＡＦＰ＝時事】フロリダ州北部ビッグベンドの砂浜で５日、末端価格で１００万ドル（約１億４０００万円）相当のコカインが見つかった。同日上陸したハリケーン「デビー」の影響で打ち上げられたものとみられる。（写真は、米フロリダ州の浜辺で見つかったコカイン。米国境警備隊提供）
　デビーは「カテゴリー１」の勢力で同州北部ビッグベンドに上陸した。その後、熱帯低気圧に勢力を弱めた。
　国境警備隊の当局者はＸ（旧ツイッター）に、「デビーがコカインの包み２５個をフロリダキーズの浜辺に運んだ」と投稿した。フロリダキーズはフロリダ半島の先端に連なる諸島。
　同当局者によると、コカインは１００万ドル以上の価値があるとされる。市民が発見し、通報した。
　フロリダキーズはカリブ海諸国から近い。カリブ海諸国は、南米から欧州や北米各地に向かうコカイン密輸ルート中継地となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/06-18:39）

Hurricane Debby landed in Florida Monday bringing high winds, pouring rain -- and 25 tightly wrapped packages of cocaine worth more than $1 million.
Debby, which hit the state's northern Big Bend region as a Category One hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, washed the trove of drugs ashore along Florida's southernmost tip.
Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys, US Border Patrol acting chief patrol Agent Samuel Briggs II wrote on X.
The load of drugs, which Briggs reported was valued at more than $1 million, was discovered by a good Samaritan who contacted the authorities.
In July of 2023, the mayor of Tampa, Florida similarly discovered 70 pounds (31.7 kilograms) of cocaine that had been washed ashore in the Florida Keys, while enjoying a vacation day.
In addition to bringing cocaine, Debby has killed one person, knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people, and could produce life-threatening storm surges as well as catastrophic flooding.
The Keys, a string of islands stretching off the state's southern tip, are located in close proximity to a number of Caribbean countries that serve as a transit hub for cocaine being trafficked from South America to Europe and North America, including into Florida.