£80m haul of cocaine washes up on beaches
COCAINE worth £80million and weighing nearly a ton has been found on beaches on the South Coast.
Waterproof packages of the Class A drug were tied to life jackets to keep them afloat.
It is thought they originated from South America but investigators have no idea how they came ashore near Hastings and Newhaven in East Sussex.
The first sightings were at 6am on Monday from passers-by.
They called police, who seized the packages and took them to a secure location for testing.
More bags were found later that day, 30 miles along the coast at Newhaven. The National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating, along with Sussex Police and Border Force.
Martin Grace, NCA branch commander, said: “Losing a consignment of this size this will represent a significant hit to the criminal networks involved.”