402 Pounds of Methamphetamine Found on a Washington Beach Shore
The FBI and Homeland Security are heading the investigation after a local Port Angeles, Washington man was taking a leisurely stroll along the beach on April 7th when he made an abandoned duffel bag discovery that immediately made him think to contact the Clallam County Sheriff's Office.
Believing he'd come across someone's private stash, the man concluded this was something for the authorities and that they'd better come take a look.
OPNET (Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team) detectives went to the beach, confiscated the bag and took it back to headquarters for testing. That process revealed methamphetamine and a weight of 60 pounds.
Four days later on April 11th, a different resident walking along a nearby beach reached out to authorities about some abandoned suspected contraband he'd come upon, the same M.O. as before, a bag containing crystalized substances, but more. A lot more. Seven duffel bags was the count this time.
The resulting testing and weighing process in this round of duffel came back with similar disclosures: methamphetamine and 342 pounds.
The street value of the total 8 abandoned meth duffel bag haul was approximated at $7 million, and the exact weight was registered at 402 pounds.
With a bust on this scale, to shortchange the seizure by two pounds rounding it down to 400, would mean there was still 2 pounds of methamphetamine unaccounted for out on the streets, and that is not acceptable.
The cache is so consuming, the case is now under investigation by other law enforcement agencies besides Homeland Security and the FBI, like the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the U.S. Border Patrol Air and Marine Unit, both are providing investigative assistance.
All agencies are asking for any information from the public that may be constructive in the investigation of these incidents to call the Clallam County Sheriff's Office at 360-417-2262, or dispatch at 360-417-2459.