Police were today searching a coastline after cocaine worth up to an estimated £3.1m washed up on a beach popular with holidaymakers.
A black holdall containing around 40kg of the Class A drug was found on the sand at Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes on the north Cornish coast on Saturday, a source in the village said.
An image taken outside Schooners bar overlooking the cove shows a police officer talking to members of the public beside the bag, while a lifeguard monitors the beach.
A local said: ‘It’s been the talk of the village this weekend. It’s a very gossipy place anyway but when something unusual like this happens, even more so.
‘I’m told the drugs were found washed up on Saturday morning and the police were called. The beach is popular with dog walkers and even out of the main holiday season there are always lots of people here.
Police were searching the Cornish coastline today after cocaine wroth up to an estimated £3.1 million was found washed up on the popular beach of Trevaunance Cove (Pictured)
A black holdall which contained around 40kg of the Class A drug was found on the sand along the north Cornish coast according to a village source (Pictured: Officials surrounding the holdall)
‘As well as the coach parties and newly-weds that tend to come here at this time of year there are lots of locals. St Agnes has a strong community with less of the second home brigade her than in other nearby locations.’
A source suggested the bag contained around 40kg of cocaine – a figure not refuted by police – which would have a street value of around £3.1m, but the local said she’d been told the cocaine had a street value of around £1.5m.
The National Crime Agency says the domestic cocaine market is dominated by criminal gangs who make in the region of £4bn a year.
Cocaine trafficking is closely linked to serious violence throughout the supply chain, including firearms and knife crime in the UK. The cocaine trade has seen an exponential rise in associated violence in the past few years.
In February the NCA and Border Force have made what is believed to be the biggest ever seizure of class A drugs in the UK.
The haul of 5.7 tonnes of cocaine was found in a container at Southampton Port which was bound for Hamburg, Germany. The blocks of drugs were found hidden within a cargo of bananas which had been transported from South America.
Based on UK street-level prices the cocaine would likely have had an estimated value in excess of £450 million.
Cocaine is created from a paste extracted from the leaves of the coca bush found in South America, then mixed with ‘cutting agents’ such as talcum powder, flour, laxatives and sugar before being sold on the street to boost the dealer’s supply.
The RNLI said its St Agnes station crew were not involved in Saturday’s incident and referred calls to Devon and Cornwall Police.
Inspector Rachel Manifield, Force Incident Manager at the constabulary, said: ‘We are currently carrying out searches along the coast between Padstow and Holywell Bay as part of an ongoing investigation.
‘Members of the public, who we would like to thank for their support, are asked to avoid the area. It is not expected to take a protracted amount of time.’
An aerila view of a beach in St Agnes, Cornwall as people flock to the beach
Pictured: A view of Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes Cornwall on a picturesque day
Last month tropical storm Debby blew nearly £800,000 worth of cocaine on to the Florida coast.
The US border patrol said 70lb (32kg) of drugs tightly wrapped in 25 packages – worth £788,000 – had washed up on a beach.
Bricks of cocaine and other drugs frequently wash up on southern Florida beaches as smugglers traffic the illegal substances from South America to the US.
In February 2017, cocaine with a street value of up to £50m washed up on two Norfolk beaches in a number of multi-coloured holdalls.
Shock as cocaine worth up to £3.1m washes up on Cornwall beach popular with holidaymakers
