Hundreds of opportunists flock to French beaches after 15-ton cocaine spill off the coast sparks illegal treasure hunt
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Opportunist crowds have flocked to beaches in France after 15 tons of cocaine was said to have been lost at sea.
The illegal shipment, reportedly spilled along the picturesque Aquitaine coast, sparked a treasure hunt as hundreds of people on quad bikes and motorcycles turned up overnight with flashlights.
Police officers have been monitoring the 50-mile stretch of coast along the Gironde and Pyrénées-Atlantiques shore since Tuesday in an attempt to salvage the cargo.
Those looking to cash in on the narcotic have reportedly been searching for days.
One group made a three-hour-long journey and stayed the night, desperate to get their hands on the cocaine.
It is unclear where exactly the spill happened, but a drug deal in the Bay of Biscay between a ship and a boat is said to have gone wrong, according to local news reports.
Locals described the shipment as a treasure hunt, with the risk of prison time outweighed by the promise of a better life funded by drug sales.
One woman named Leina told the French radio station RMC: 'I've been looking for four days, I've done almost the entire coast.
Hundreds of opportunists have flocked to beaches across France after 15 tons of cocaine went into the sea off the coast
'What motivates me is simply money. I can rebuild my life, buy a house, a car. I'm going to be 30, after a while you have to move forward.
'It's not with €100 per day that I'm going to advance anywhere, so I'm looking for the treasure like everyone else.'
Another man, identified as Guillaume, said: 'It's dangerous indeed, but life is hard, so it doesn't matter if we don't do things legally. What we want is just the money, to get by a little.'
In France, the maximum penalty for unlawful transport, possession, acquisition, supply and use of narcotics is ten years in prison and a £6.25million fine.
The news broadcaster TF1 captured a video of masked men hanging around the beaches of Biscarrosse, in Landes, but the group quickly fled when they saw reporters' drones.
Xavier Labrouche, head of Vieux-Boucau municipal police, told France 3 that they had noticed 'a rather unusual number of people out at night for this time of year'.
Police said several people have been fined after trying to enter a military-controlled site in Landes.
Beaches in Le Porge in the Gironde were closed indefinitely on Tuesday after CCTV cameras revealed around 200 lamps around the beach at night.
So far, the drugs have not been found and investigators say they have not ruled out the possibility of false information.
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