Another day, another weird drugs discovery in South Florida.
Fort Lauderdale police are investigating a seemingly abandoned boat full of marijuana that washed up on the shore Monday morning, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Police said the mysterious 20-foot boat was discovered around 5 a.m. after a man who was sleeping in nearby bushes spotted it in the surf, according to NBC6.
So far, police have recovered at least 11 bales of marijuana from both inside the boat and in the water nearby. According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on the scene, each bale is estimated to be worth about $10,000, with a total estimate of over $100,000.
A blue barrel was also found on the sand not far from the boat, but its contents and whether or not it is connected to the nearby boat have not been confirmed, Fort Lauderdale Police Detective DeAnna Greenlaw told the Sun Sentinel.
"At this time there's no foul play suspected," Det. Greenlaw said. "It just appears to be a vessel that washed ashore with the narcotics on it and at this time we do not know if or how many people were on that vessel when it arrived."
Of course, Floridians are kind of accustomed to narcotics smuggling in Sunshine State waters. Last year, officials said packaged marijuana discoveries on or near beaches -- bales of so-called "square grouper" -- were on record pace.
In one month alone, 400 pounds of weed was found in 75 packages strewn along the sand in Jupiter; a combined 48 pounds was found on two separate occasions near Vero Beach; a capsized boat floated ashore in Flagler with 150 pounds of weed; and 15 pounds of waterlogged green was found in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Demand, meanwhile, remains high: surveys show marijuana is the most widely-used illicit drug, with roughly 7 percent of the U.S. population copping to regular use.
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