Ghost ship containing $80 million worth of cocaine washes up on Marshall Islands

Investigations found the 18ft. fiberglass vessel carrying what turns out to be the Pacific nation's largest-ever haul of cocaine

By Nina Siena December 17, 2020 09:06 GMT

A ghost ship containing 1,430 pounds of cocaine worth about $80 million ( £ 58.9 million ) washed up on a beach in the remote atoll of Ailuk in the Marshall Islands last week. A local resident noticed the abandoned ship drifting along the shoreline. Other islanders stepped in to try and guide the boat to shore. They were unsuccessful in doing so due to its weight.

Attorney General Richard Hickson said investigations found the 18ft. fibreglass vessel carrying what turns out to be the Pacific nation's largest-ever haul of cocaine. The ship is believed to have been drifting on the high seas for possibly about two years, riding currents across the Pacific from Central or South America.

Police investigators found 649 sealed bricks of cocaine hidden in a compartment beneath the deck, each weighing 1 kilo. The drug packages which were marked with the letters "KW", were incinerated on Tuesday. Authorities kept two packs from the load, which will then be handed over to the US Drug Enforcement Agency for analysis.

This is not the first instance where drugs have been found along the Marshall Islands shoreline. Ailuk has a total population of 400 and over the past two decades, numerous drug stashes have washed up on these shores but this most recent one was by far the largest haul. The area is reputed to be a major international drug trafficking route, CNN reported.

Law enforcement officials have drawn up quite a variety of theories about the origins of these mysterious drug hauls. They strongly relate these to smugglers who have abandoned their loot after facing imminent danger of being caught or lost in heavy storms.

Sometime in January 2014, a fisherman named Jose Alvarenga had washed up on the shores of the Marshall Islands after spending more than 13 months out at sea. He had set off on a journey with a companion starting from Mexico's west coast. However, his companion died during the voyage

Most often, debris from the Americas would wash up on the Marshalls years after it has been floating out at sea and tossed about by the Pacific Ocean currents.

After Alvarenga showed up on the shore, researches from the University of Hawaii conducted 16 computer simulations on the drift patterns from the coast of Mexico. The team's study revealed that nearly all drifters eventually end up in the Marshall Islands.