A dog walker in Cornwall made a startling discovery on Saturday morning when he stumbled upon a bag of cocaine worth over £3million.
The Class A drugs had washed ashore at Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes in a black holdall containing some 40kg of the white powder.
The find has got locals talking - with one local resident telling the Mail: "It's been the talk of the village this weekend. It's a very gossipy place anyway but when something unusual like this happens, even more so."
The beach where the drugs were discovered is known for its popularity among dog walkers and holidaymakers. Even outside the main tourist season, the area attracts a diverse crowd.
The Class A drugs had washed ashore at Trevaunance Cove
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The local told the Mail: "As well as the coach parties and newly-weds that tend to come here at this time of year, there are lots of locals.
"St Agnes has a strong community with less of the second home brigade here than in other nearby locations."
An image taken outside Schooners bar, overlooking the cove, showed a police officer speaking with members of the public near the bag, while a lifeguard monitored the beach.
Devon and Cornwall Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
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Police were seen speaking to the public about the find by the cove
Inspector Rachel Manifield, the force's incident manager, said: "We are currently carrying out searches along the coast between Padstow and Holywell Bay as part of an ongoing investigation."
The police thanked the public for their support and asked them to avoid the area during the searches.
Manifield added that the operation isn't expected to take a protracted amount of time.
The RNLI confirmed that its St Agnes station crew were not involved in Saturday's incident and had referred all enquiries to the police.
The RNLI confirmed that its St Agnes station crew were not involved in Saturday's incident
PABut authorities - including international forces like Interpol - are working to determine the origin of the cocaine and how it came to wash up on the Cornish coast.
Some theories posit that the illegal goods could have been dumped overboard by drug smugglers - or dropped off the side of a boat by accident while traversing bad weather.
The cocaine trade in the UK is a significant concern, with the National Crime Agency estimating that criminal gangs make around £4billion annually from the domestic market.
The illicit trade is closely linked to serious violence, including firearms and knife crime.
In February, authorities made what is believed to be the UK's largest-ever seizure of Class A drugs, intercepting 5.7 tonnes of cocaine in Southampton.
The haul, hidden in a cargo of bananas from South America, had an estimated street value exceeding £450million.
Similar incidents of drugs washing ashore have occurred elsewhere. In February 2017, cocaine worth up to £50million was found on two Norfolk beaches, while last month, nearly £800,000 worth of cocaine washed up on Florida's coast following tropical storm Debby.
