BOAT FILLED WITH 649 KILOS OF COCAINE WAS FOUND IN MARSHALL ISLANDS

The Marshall Islands is a unique state located in the Pacific Ocean, where it is difficult to surprise police officers with caches of drugs. The fact is that the ocean often washes up boats with consignments of prohibited substances to the shores. However, the latest find was unusual, even by local standards.

Central and South American smugglers often choose to get rid of drugs when they are in danger. The cargo that was discovered this time turned out to be the largest in the history of the Marshall Islands.

It is curious that an empty 5.5-meter fiberglass vessel was discovered actually by accident, on one of the atolls, far from crowded places. Ayluk Atoll is inhabited by only 400 people - when one of the local residents found a boat washed ashore by waves, he tried to pull it out of the water with his neighbors.

The ship was too heavy, and community members began checking the compartments below deck - there were hidden 649 kg plastic bags of narcotic powder, marked with the KW letters.

It is worth noting that the local residents immediately drew up an appeal to the police, which subsequently disposed of the entire batch in an incinerator. Two packages were sent for analysis to the experts from the United States working in the anti-drug trafficking department. According to Attorney General Richard Hickson, this find has become a kind of record among such "catches" in the entire history of the state.

Voluntary return of drug finds does not always happen, noted the police.

For example, local residents decided to hide on the shore hundreds of kilograms of cocaine found in 2004. And a couple of years ago, a cargo of 48 kilograms of cocaine fell into the nets of a local fisherman instead of fish.