Another package of suspected cocaine with lion image washes up in Florida Keys

David Goodhue, Miami Herald on Jul 8, 2026

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MIAMI — For the second time in a week, a package believed to be cocaine marked with an image of a lion washed up in the Florida Keys on Wednesday morning, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The kilogram package found Wednesday washed up at Robbie’s Marina, the famous Islamorada landmark known for offering tourists a chance to hand-feed tarpons.

A ranger at Long Key State Park about 10 miles south of Robbie’s found a nearly identical package Sunday morning, the sheriff’s office said.

Both packages were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, which is standard procedure when drugs are found washed up or in the water. Agents test the packages, but the sheriff’s office said the one found Wednesday was punctured and tainted by saltwater.

Washed-up loads of cocaine and marijuana are not an unusual occurrence in the Keys. They are typically lost packages from illegal smuggling runs either destined for the Keys or en route to another location.

And the kilos typically have some sort of image on them, not to call out where they came from, but rather to tell smugglers who bought the contraband and where it’s going, Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Miami Herald.

“They generally don’t want to advertise where it’s coming from, who’s selling it,” Ramsay said. “It’s who owns the load.”

Customs and Border Protection takes the loads for intelligence reasons, Ramsay said. Agents try to determine how long the drugs have been in the water and check their sources to see if anyone was expecting a delivery in that time range, the sheriff said.

“The chances of tying someone to the (source of the) drugs is almost zero,” Ramsay said.

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