Cocaine worth £3.1 million washes up in Trevaunance Cove in Cornwall

Up to £3.1 million worth of cocaine has washed up on a beach in Cornwall.

A black bag apparently wrapped in a bin bag was found at Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes on the north Cornish coast on Saturday.

A picture allegedly taken outside the Schooners bar overlooking the bay shows a police officer next to the bag.

Otis Robertson, 19, who works at Schooners Bar, told The Telegraph that the bag was found in a cave nearby.

He said: “It was found in a cave by a dog walker in the morning. They immediately called the police. It was a large black tote bag. The lifeguards said it was full of bricks (with cocaine).

“The police came by and looked to see if there were more. They actually said it weighed about 40kg and was worth £3 million.”

Mr Robertson claimed the bag had recently been brought ashore by strong winds.

An anonymous resident told the Daily Mail: “It was the talk of the village this weekend. It’s a place full of rumors anyway, but when something so unusual happens, even more so.

“I was told the drugs were found washed up on Saturday morning and the police were called. The beach is popular with dog walkers and there are always lots of people here even outside of the main holiday season.”

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has said the domestic cocaine market is dominated by criminal gangs who earn around £4 billion a year.

In February, the NCA and Border Force seized 5.7 tonnes of cocaine – one of the UK’s largest ever seizures of Class A drugs. The contraband was found hidden among bananas in a container at the port of Southampton that had been transported from South America and was destined for Hamburg, Germany.

Based on street prices in the UK, this cocaine would have had an estimated value of over £450 million.

Last month, a Royal Navy patrol ship seized 40 million pounds of cocaine from a speedboat in the Caribbean.

Royal Marines and US Coast Guard personnel on HMS Trent intercepted the ship carrying 506kg of Class A narcotics south of the Dominican Republic.

The raid was the sixth carried out by the Royal Navy ship this year, bringing the total amount of drugs seized to £551.5 million.

Devon and Cornwall Police have been contacted for comment.