Over the weekend, beachgoers trawling for treasures had an unexpected surprise.
There was a black holdall containing £3.1million worth of cocaine which had washed up on the shore of Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes on the north Cornish coast.
Investigators are hunting for its owners and teams are scouring the coast between Padstow and Holywell Bay to see if any more of the substance washed out to sea.
Trevaunance Cove is popular with dog walkers and even out of the main holiday season it is usually bustling with holidaymakers.
But questions remain as to how 40kg of the Class A drug ended up on the sand of the picturesque Cornish beach.
Cocaine worth up to an estimated £3.1 million was found washed up on the popular beach of Trevaunance Cove over the weekend (Pictured)
A black holdall which contained around 40kg of the Class A drug was found on the sand along the north Cornish coast according to a village source
Devon and Cornwall police are working with Interpol and other global agencies to try to find out how the drugs are ending up on British beaches, as Saturday’s discovery is hardly a rarity in Cornwall.
Smugglers may have dumped the cocaine overboard as they were hunted by anti-drug patrols.
The drugs may have also fallen overboard when being transported on a small boat or due to bad weather conditions affecting the vessel.
Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea, using a range of methods and routes.
It is shipped from Latin America in vessels launched from Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Venezuela has become more important in recent years as trafficking organisations move Colombian cocaine overland and take advantage of the busy maritime traffic between the coast and the islands of the Caribbean.
However, cocaine is also trafficked from Venezuela to Europe by air, either directly or via the Caribbean and Africa.
Cocaine seized by the NCA on a fishing boat stopped at sea off the coast of Newquay, Cornwall
A fishing boat carrying approximately one tonne of cocaine was intercepted off the Cornish coast earlier this month. Pictured: A stock image of a boat in Mevagissey, Cornwall
Pictured: Newlyn town harbour in Cornwall. The Cornish coast often sees unexpected parcels
The largest seaports in Europe are in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, and they are key points for this type of trafficking.
Large container ports in other countries are also used, like Algeciras and Valencia in Spain, and Hamburg in Germany.
According to the European Union Drugs Agency, the trafficking into Europe mainly occurs through western and southern countries.
Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium are the most important entry points for South American cocaine reaching the Europe.
Together, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy accounted for around four-fifths of the cocaine seized in the EU in 2014.
Cocaine traffickers make use of a wide range of trafficking methods, but the key to facilitate it is corruption.
Organised crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking may be making ‘systematic efforts to corrupt workers in all major ports’ in response to any crackdown in law enforcement, according to the EUDA.
The drugs are loaded in the departure port and recovered in the port of arrival, so the use of corrupt employees at both ends is a key element.
Earlier in the month, a fishing boat carrying approximately one tonne of cocaine was been intercepted off the Cornish coast in a ‘huge loss’ for an organised crime group, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
NCA officers arrested four men and seized the drugs after the boat was stopped at sea near Newquay on September 13.
The four men were arrested on suspicion of importing class A drugs.
Images supplied by the NCA show 17 brick-shaped packages in brown wrapping and two in dark wrapping, most with the label ‘pezx’.
Pictured: A view of Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes Cornwall on a picturesque day
An aerial view of a beach in St Agnes, Cornwall as people flock to the beach
The force also released a photograph of a blue and white boat named ‘Lily Lola’.
Derek Evans, NCA branch commander, said: ‘This is a significant amount of cocaine that will represent a huge loss for the organised crime group that attempted to import it into the UK.
‘With our partners at Border Force and the Joint Maritime Security Centre, we have successfully removed this harmful drug consignment from the criminal marketplace.
‘Its onward supply would have fuelled exploitation through county lines activity as well as serious violence and knife crime.
‘Our investigation into this importation continues.’
The National Crime Agency says the domestic cocaine market is dominated by criminal gangs who make in the region of £4bn a year.
Cocaine trafficking is closely linked to serious violence throughout the supply chain, including firearms and knife crime in the UK. The cocaine trade has seen an exponential rise in associated violence in the past few years.
In February the NCA and Border Force have made what is believed to be the biggest ever seizure of class A drugs in the UK.
The haul of 5.7 tonnes of cocaine was found in a container at Southampton Port which was bound for Hamburg, Germany. The blocks of drugs were found hidden within a cargo of bananas which had been transported from South America.
Based on UK street-level prices the cocaine would likely have had an estimated value in excess of £450 million.
Cocaine is created from a paste extracted from the leaves of the coca bush found in South America, then mixed with ‘cutting agents’ such as talcum powder, flour, laxatives and sugar before being sold on the street to boost the dealer’s supply.
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