MAJURO, Marshall Islands, Dec 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A fisherman in the
Marshall Islands netted more than he bargained for when he hauled in his
catch to find a suspected 48 kilos (106 pounds) of cocaine.
The white powder, professionally wrapped and taped in plastic bags, had a
street value of about US$4 million , police said Friday.
“We’re pretty sure we got all of it,” deputy police commissioner Robson
Almen added, saying there was no indication the packs had broken out from a
larger bundle.
Almen said the fisherman called the police when he found the drugs last
week while trawling off Kwajalein Atoll, 494 kilometres (307 miles) from the
capital Majuro.
Marshall Islands law enforcement personnel have requested US Drug
Enforcement Agency assistance as the western Pacific territory does not have
a laboratory capable of confirming the substance is cocaine.
However, the remote archipelago, which is on the northern trans-Pacific
cocaine route from South America to Asia, has a history of cocaine finds.
Between 2002 and 2009, bundles of cocaine and boats with cocaine on board
were found washed up on beaches around the Marshall Islands on at least six
occasions.
“This indicates a very substantial and long-established cocaine trade, and
one on a massive scale,” according to a 2012 report in the Asia Pacific
Defence Reporter, an Australia-based military and law enforcement-related
website.