A man was left stunned after accidentally finding bricks of cocaine during his hunt for turtle nests at a Florida beach.

The shocking discovery took place on Friday morning (June 21) on Amelia Island beach in Nassau County, as reported by News4Jax.

The publication shared pictures of bricks of cocaine, which were covered in plastic and had an image of a bald eagle on top.

Authorities revealed that the drugs, which weigh 32 kilograms, have an estimated value of $1 million in brick form, but the street value is more than $4 million. 

According to News4JAX, beachgoers said they were astounded when they learned about the bizarre find.

“That’s a tremendous amount of cocaine and what is it doing this far north? So, it was a shock,” Megan Feldman told the outlet.

“We came out looking for shark teeth, but their value is not quite the street value of the other stuff that’s washing up. But we’re still looking for shark teeth,” Paula Johns, a tourist from South Carolina, added.

The man had been looking for turtle nests when he stumbled across a very different find. Credit: Kryssia Campos/Getty Images

It’s common for large amounts of packaged drugs to be located on and off the shoreline of South Florida, where smuggling is rife.

US Border Patrol recently shared a video of them seizing 29 kilograms of brick cocaine that was floating in the water off the Florida Keys. The package had the same eagle logo on it.

Samuel Briggs II, the acting chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol, wrote about the find on X: "Missing a brick? Hit us up! During a beach cleanup, a Good Samaritan in the Florida Keys discovered this kilo of cocaine & notified authorities. The cocaine was seized by the U.S. Border Patrol."

However, it's rare for such a large amount of cocaine to be discovered in Northeast Florida.

“It’s very rare here in Nassau County,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said. “Many years ago, there were bales of marijuana that washed up on the beach, but to my knowledge, something like this washing up is certainly a rare event.”

While the planned destination of the drugs remains unclear, law enforcement believes drug smugglers deliberately threw it off a boat.

“More than likely, it was on a boat that law enforcement or Coast Guard was getting close to and they just threw it overboard to get rid of it so they didn’t have possession of it. The sea current just washes it up along the coastline,” he added.

Featured image credit: Joe Raedle / Getty

When people are past retirement age, they often decide to go on vacation a lot more. Once they no longer have to worry about taking time off work, suddenly old age pensioners have far more incentive to jet off to parts unknown and sunnier climes. Maybe they want to visit the Florida Everglades, or go on a ski trip to the alps, or even play it safe with a cruise down Benidorm. Whatever they decide, you can bet that it's likely to be a hell of a lot more relaxed than the sort of holidays that youngsters go on. There'll be no promiscuous sex, beach parties, and drug taking for the over-60s.

... Or so you might have thought, until now. It turns out that at least two members of the older generarion have managed to land themselves in seriously hot water during a trip abroad, after Portuguese police arrested a British couple in their seventies (neither of whom have been named yet) after they discovered that they were carrying $2.5 million worth of cocaine in their suitcases; the ecquivilent of almost nine kilograms!

The Portuguese police authorities have released a statement concerning the arrest, in which they wrote: "The Policia Judiciaria's National Drugs Trafficking Unit has identified and arrested a foreign couple who were travelling on a cruise line doing a circuit which took in the Caribbean and Europe. They were arrested on suspicion of international drugs trafficking."

They added: "The operation, which took place with the support of the Maritime Police, was the result of the permanent exchange of information and cooperation that exists between the PJ and the British forces of law and order, specifically the National Crime Agency."

"The arrests occurred after the ship had reached Lisbon Port's cruise terminal and after a search of the cabin the suspects were using, where four suitcases with a high amount of cocaine hidden inside was seized. The suspects, who are aged 70 and 72, were questioned as suspects or arguidos before being remanded in prison. The investigation by the PJ and UK authorities is ongoing."

Meanwhile, Vitor Ananais, leader of the sting operation for the Policia Judiciaria, stated: "The man and the woman are English although they don't live in England but in another European country. I can't say which country at the moment because the investigation is ongoing and I don't want to compromise what we are doing."

He added: "The arrests took place on December 4. We knew who were looking for and boarded the cruise ship with a search warrant. The drugs were hidden in false bottoms in the suitcases and were distributed evenly among the four cases in the cabin. There were nine kilos seized in total."

So there you have it: turns out that two OAPs are more than capable of breaking bad, and ending up banged up abroad. I'm not sure they'll be able to afford bail on a state pension.

Looking in from the outside, Dan Saunder's life looked incredible, with private jets, caviar, champagne and nights with escorts being a regular occurrence.

But the 29-year-old had a secret: none of the money paying for it was his. Instead, he was getting his supply from a broken cash machine, which somehow allowed him to take out £1 million ($1.2 million) without charging him.

It all started when he was on a night out and tried to buy a round of drinks at the bar. When his card was declined, he went down the street to the closest ATM to check his balance: it said he had just £3 ($3.79) to his name.

Despite this depressing news, he tapped to withdraw £100 ($126.50) anyway. The result of this was something of a miracle: the machine gave him the money he requested, despite an error message coming up onscreen stating the transaction had been declined.

After returning to the bar to successfully buy his round of drinks, he went back to the ATM and asked for more money. To his amazement, it gave it to him.

Speaking to Sun Online, he explained: "I tried to get £250 and then £300 just to see what would happen and it kept giving me the money. It was 1am in a country town so there was nowhere open to spend it. I think it was a combination of being tipsy and bored, but I just kept doing it again and again, it was like a magic trick."

The next night, he went back to the same machine and figured out that if he visited it between the hours of midnight and one in the morning, he could withdraw as much free cash as he wanted.

The charges would appear on his bank account as minus figures the next day, but he could always draw out more cash once the clock struck midnight. Shockingly, the staff at his bank did not notice.

Describing it as "like a caveman discovering fire", he began taking out hundreds every single night. Over a four-and-a-half month period, he took about around £1million ($1.2 million).

He used the money to live the high life: he threw wild parties, ate at the best restaurants, stayed in expensive hotels, hired private jets and paid glamorous escorts to be on his arm after breaking up with his girlfriend.

According to his interview with The Sun, the most expensive thing Dan bought was a flight in a 20-seat private jet, which he chartered to an island in Asia, near Bali, costing almost £50,000.

However, his conscience soon caught up with him: the 29-year-old began to have anxiety attacks, as his bank account went further and further into the red.

He turned himself into his bank in June 2011, but wasn't arrested until three years later on 111 counts related to fraud and theft.

In May 2016, he was released from prison after spending a year locked up. He’s now working in a bar again on £12.50 ($15.82) an hour, but insists he has "no regrets".

He told The Sun: "Right now, I'm happy. I've got a pretty stable life with a bit of everything here and there. It's better now, but there was definitely a hangover time, when I thought, jeez, maybe I should have gone to Spain after all."