Jumping fish lead SC fishermen to rare catch — $1 million of cocaine, Coast Guard says
Two South Carolina men who went fishing Sunday returned to shore with an unusual catch — up to $1 million of cocaine, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The fishermen were about 70 miles southeast of Charleston when they came across a bag, WESH reported.
Once they pulled the package aboard, they opened it and discovered 30 bricks of cocaine, according to WBTW.
The fishermen said they were drawn to the cocaine-filled package that was part of floating debris because “a school of Mahi-mahi (were) jumping around it,” per WCSC.
“Every time time we passed it we caught a fish,” one of the men said, the TV station reported.
The men turned the drugs over to the Coast Guard, which estimated the 30 to 50 kilos of cocaine had a street value of around $1 million, according to WESH.
A Coast Guard official said finding that much cocaine in waters off the South Carolina coast was “a rarity,” per postandcourier.com.
“It definitely doesn’t happen off the Charleston coast every day,” Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Phillip VanderWeit said, WCSC reported. “It’s a bit more common further south, whether in the Caribbean or the south Pacific.”
After the drugs were turned over to law enforcement, an investigation was launched by the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and the Drug Enforcement Agency, per WBTW.
This story was originally published June 3, 2019 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Jumping fish lead SC fishermen to rare catch — $1 million of cocaine, Coast Guard says."
