Armed police patrol Sussex beach after a haul of cocaine washes ashore on the South Coast for the fourth time this month
- Armed police sealed off section of beach in Goring after £2million of drug found
A black holdall containing as much as 30kg of cocaine has washed up on a beach – the fourth time huge quantities of drugs have landed on the South Coast this month.
Armed police and the coastguard yesterday sealed off a large section of the shore in Goring, West Sussex, after a member of the public found the bag containing more than £2million worth of the class A drug.
It comes after a fisherman found hundreds of kilos of cocaine floating in the sea close to Durdle Door, Dorset, on October 2. A team of litter-pickers stumbled upon a second batch on a beach on the west coast of the Isle of Wight.
On October 12, armed police cordoned off the beach at Ferring, west of Worthing, when dozens of black-and-turquoise packages marked ‘POPI’ containing £1.2million of cocaine washed up on the shore.
More of the sealed parcels were found scattered on nearby beaches in Felpham and Middleton the following day. A further batch was found in Selsey last Thursday.
Armed police and coastguards sealed off a section of beach in Goring yesterday after a bag was discovered on the shore containing £2million worth of cocaine
The vast haul of drugs is believed to be part of a consignment dumped by smugglers in the Solent earlier this month
The vast haul of drugs is believed to be part of a consignment dumped by smugglers in the Solent earlier this month.
A witness said the black bag found yesterday looked identical to the holdalls from the previous cocaine discoveries.
‘The police quickly bagged it up and whipped it off the beach at about 11am,’ they said.
‘There were eight armed officers who helped seal the beach off.
‘I’d heard it was about 30kg or so. It was definitely the same bag as the load found in Middleton and the Isle of Wight.’
Sussex Police warned members of the public not to touch or remove any other packages they discover on the beach.
Writer David Jones with what is believed to be cocaine at Brightstone on the Isle of Wight
A spokesman said: ‘Police were called to Goring on Monday morning following reports of suspected drugs washing up on the beach.’
He added the packages will be taken for forensic testing along with those found at the other locations while investigators work to find the source of the drugs.
Following the discoveries made earlier this month, the National Crime Agency confirmed that initial testing indicated the substance found was cocaine originating in South America.
Senior investigating officer Tracey Lake said: ‘A loss of a consignment of this size would represent a significant hit to the criminal networks involved.’
Dogwalker Kayt Wolfe, who saw some of the packages washed up on the Isle of Wight, said people had asked her why she did not keep some of the narcotics.
‘It never crossed my mind. I just wanted it safely removed from the beach,’ she said.
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