It is very common to find plastic bags, ropes, and other man-made entities entangled with sea animals. However, it’s rare that you find a sea turtle entangled in 53 million dollars worth of cocaine. The US coast guard, who were part of a program called Operation Martillo which was launched in 2012 to combat international drug trafficking, became aware of a stranded sea turtle in the Pacific Ocean that was entangled in some flotsam. The floating objects turned out to be 26 packages of drugs wrapped in a plastic and tied together with a rope, totaling up to 800 kilograms of cocaine. This most likely was the result of smugglers who threw out the cocaine after noticing nearby coast guards to escape prosecution.

The turtle was estimated to have been entangled for 2 days due the marks on his neck and fins as reported by the guardsmen. They also reeled in 23 meters of rope to ensure that no other see animal would get entangled. The amount of drugs was only a small amount of what was seized by the guards which totaled up to 6,755 kilograms. With the increase of drug production in places like Columbia, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration is estimating an increase in drug smuggling, including by water, and therefore accidents similar to that of entangled sea turtle could become more common.