‘Narco-tourists’ in luxury cars comb French beaches after cocaine washes ashore

People in luxury cars and 4x4s have been flooding beachside French villages after a shell-hunting couple found £50,000,000 worth of cocaine.

Proving that romance isn’t dead, the lovebirds found 850 kilos of the Class A drug along the shores of Réville, a commune in Normandy, on February 26.

It was stored in a pair of large construction bags that had washed ashore, kept afloat along the English Channel by canisters and life jackets.

Six more packages of cocaine weighing around 1.5 tonnes appeared on the beachside of the nearby Vicq-sur-Me commune on Wednesday.

Story from Jam Press (Cocaine Discovery) Pictured: The packages of cocaine discovered on the beach. Shellshocked! Lovebirds looking for shells on beach discover tonne of COCAINE A couple looking for shells on the beach were shocked to find nearly a tonne of cocaine - worth over ??50 million. The lovebirds were enjoying a romantic stroll on the sands when they spotted the suspicious construction bags. They immediately informed the police and the huge white sacks were found to contain 40 packages of the Class A drug inside. They had washed up on the shore during low tide from the English Channel. The drugs were found in R??ville, Normandy, France - just 60 miles from the Isle of Wight. The bags were kept afloat at sea by canisters and life jackets and tied with rope. Officers on the scene confirmed that the packages were filled with 800kg (0.88 tonnes) of cocaine. The authorities said the consignment has a street value of about ??53.3 million. French Police spokesperson Colonel Bruno Langlois said: ???We have launched technical and scientific police investigations to determine whether we can find traces of DNA on the packaging.??? The unnamed couple told local media: ???Every time there is a storm, a lot of things wash up on the beach. ???But we usually come here to collect shells, not cocaine. ???Boats are passing this coast all the time, I imagine there are a lot of traffickers.??? The find was made on 26 February. In 2019, 1.6 tons of cocaine washed up on the coastline after the vessel shed its load during a violent storm. Drug shipments from South America often arrive at major northern European ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Le Havre. Several times a year, shipments lost at sea wash up on the coast, but it is considered rare to find a consignment as big as this one. The investigation is ongoing. ENDS — The cocaine packages were discovered by a couple strolling along the beach (Picture: Jam Press)

Pedestrians search for bagsof drugs in Neville sur Mer, northwestern France, on March 2, 2023. - More than two tons of cocaine packed in bags washed up last weekend and on March 1, 2023, on the Channel coast, with an estimated retail value of nearly 150 million euros, a source close to the case said on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP) (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) — Residents of villages along the Normandy coast have reported unfamiliar faces combing their coasts for cocaine (Picture: Getty Images / AFP)

The batches have an estimated total worth of £133,000,000, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

But now officials are warning against ‘narco-tourism’ after residents of Normandy villages have described an influx of unfamiliar people.

Réville mayor Yves Asseline told the Le Parisien newspaper yesterday: ‘The sea brings us many things but this is obviously very unusual.

‘We’ve seen people arriving in 4x4s, brand new cars or with quad bikes on the beach, sometimes at dawn with head torches.’

‘When the gendarmes, before leaving the beach in a secure convoy, opened the van for me in which they had stored the dozens of bags containing this cocaine, I said to myself: “But what world do we live in?”‘ he added.

Local prosecutor Philippe Astruc issued a public warning to beachcombers yesterday.

Gendarmes patrols the beach of the Blankenese battery in Neville sur Mer, northwestern France, on March 2, 2023. - More than two tons of cocaine packed in bags washed up last weekend and on March 1, 2023, on the Channel coast, with an estimated retail value of nearly 150 million euros, a source close to the case said on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP) (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) — Cocaine was also discovered in Néville-sur-mer (Picture: AFP)

French gendarmes leaves after they patrol the beach of the Blankenese battery in Neville sur Mer, northwestern France, on March 2, 2023. - More than two tons of cocaine packed in bags washed up last weekend and on March 1, 2023, on the Channel coast, with an estimated retail value of nearly 150 million euros, a source close to the case said on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP) (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) — French gendarmes have been patrolling the beach of the Blankenese battery in Neville-sur-Mer (Picture: AFP)

‘The act of taking possession of one of these bundles and transporting it is a crime that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison,’ he told reporters.

Astruc added that the imported cocaine is likely 80-90% pure – way stronger than the kind typically sold by street dealers – which could be ‘fatal’ if consumed.

‘At the present time, we don’t know the purity of this substance,’ he said.

A young man died after taking cocaine from a 1.6-tonne shipment that appeared along the French Atlantic coast in 2019, the prosecutor warned.

Along Néville-sur-mer in Vicq-sur-Mer on Thursday, a group of masked people dressed in black tracksuits were spotted combing the beach.

Armed military police officers, known as gendarmes, have been patrolling the beach while helicopters look down from below.