A microwave oven-sized package containing some $625,000 worth of cocaine was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, officials said.
Boaters found the package on Monday in mangroves off Panther Key near Everglades City, Collier County Sheriff's Office officials said.
The package contained 56 pounds of cocaine separated into 25 individually wrapped kilograms, with an estimated street value of $625,000.
Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk posed for a photo with the cocaine, which was posted on the sheriff's office Facebook page.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
“We appreciate the help of Good Samaritans in our community who saw something unusual and contacted law enforcement,” Rambosk said.
The bundle was covered in barnacles, indicating it had been in the water for a long while, the sheriff's office said.
U.S. & World
Detectives are trying to determine where the cocaine came from, but said it likely washed in with the tides from the east coast from recent storms.
Large packages of drugs ranging from marijuana to hashish to cocaine have been discovered floating in the waters off Miami and the Florida Keys recently, officials said.
Earlier this month, Hurricane Debby blew $1 million worth of cocaine onto a Florida Keys Beach.
Officials in Collier County said Monday's find is uncommon for today but "reminiscent of the 'square grouper' marijuana smuggling days in Collier County during the 1970s and 1980s."
