Nearly 20 kilos of cocaine washes ashore on Marina Cay

BVI News understands that local marine police seized a large bale of cocaine, reportedly weighing nearly 20 kilos, after the drugs washed ashore on Marina Cay earlier this week. 

It’s reported that when officers arrived on the beach, they observed what appeared to be a bale of suspected cocaine and a few individual bricks of the same substance. The items were recovered and taken into custody for processing.

Sources say the bale, once opened, contained several individual bricks, and when weighed, measured close to 20 kilograms altogether. Such quantities of cocaine — especially when packaged in “bricks” and bales — are typically destined for larger markets, including the U.S. mainland, where the illegal drug’s street value can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram.

For context, a single brick of cocaine usually refers to a roughly one-kilo (2.2-pound) block of compressed cocaine powder, wrapped for transport. These bricks are then often bundled together into larger bales for shipment.

Cocaine washing ashore is not a new phenomenon in the Caribbean region, and is often used by smugglers as a decoy tactic — intentionally discarding smaller packages into the sea to distract authorities while larger consignments continue toward their destination. 

These larger consignments carry a heavy street value and are linked to the disruption of thousands of lives and families when they enter illicit distribution networks. 

This week’s find comes amid ongoing efforts by the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force and partner agencies to tackle narcotics trafficking in the territory’s waters. Days ago, six men were arrested and charged in connection with 772.4 kilograms of cocaine that was seized on a vessel that was traversing BVI waters.