Abandoned Boat with Illicit Cargo Washes Ashore in Marshall Islands

Last week, an 18-foot abandoned boat washed up on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands with 1,430 pounds of cocaine on board. The Pacific nation’s largest ever haul of cocaine was stowed in a compartment beneath the deck, where it may have been hidden for years.

According to Attorney General Richard Hickson, the boat likely drifted across the Pacific from Central or South America, which may have taken a year or two. According to research conducted by the University of Hawaii, almost all drift patterns from the Mexico coast eventually arrive in the Marshall Islands.

Law enforcement officials are unsure of where the cocaine originated from, but they are entertaining various theories that it was abandoned by smugglers who were worried about being caught or who were lost in storms. The police incinerated all but two packs, which they sent to the US Drug Enforcement Agency for analysis.