French beaches closed after drugs find

FRENCH authorities have closed beaches in the southwest France as packages of cocaine and other drugs continue to wash up daily along the Atlantic coast, with nearly 900 kilograms discovered since mid-October, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Officials say the cocaine is extremely pure at some 83 percent, warning people who find the packages not to touch them but to warn the police.

That has not stopped some from trying to get their hands on the drugs, whose street value would be in the millions of euros, prompting police to close beaches and start carrying out patrols.

On Monday, a 17-year-old was caught with 5kg of cocaine at Lacanau, a closed-off surfing beach near the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

A half-dozen other beaches in the area have been closed as well, with police stopping walkers for searches and also checking cars leaving nearby parking lots.

A police helicopter was also being used along the 125-kilometer stretch between Cap Ferret and Soulac-sur-Mer, which includes the Lacanau beach.

A woman who gave her name as Martine failed to notice the closure signs at the Porge beach on Monday, when officers told her and a friend to leave.

“When we turned around, we saw a package next to the water,” she said, saying they alerted the police, who estimated it weighed some 4kg before sealing it in a plastic bag.

“It would have been tempting to take it but we’re honest!” she said.

“We’ve recovered 872kg,” said Philippe Astruc, the prosecutor in the western city of Rennes, where officials are coordinating the searches.

“Intense surveillance has been set up by different services, notably the customs agency, all along the French coast,” Astruc’s office said on Sunday.

“In this form, it’s a very dangerous product that could cause an overdose,” it said.

Officials have reported the drugs turning up on beaches near Nantes all the way to Biarritz, more than 500 kilometers to the south.

(AFP)