PORT ANGELES, Wash. — Nearly $7 million worth of methamphetamine and cocaine found on the beaches near Port Angeles on two different days in the past week, according to the Clallam County Sheriffs Office.
The first was found on April 7, when a Clallam County resident told deputies that he found a large duffel bag on the beach west of Port Angeles. The resident looked inside the bag and found white crystal substances and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team confirmed that the substance was probably methamphetamine.
According to deputies, the bag contained nearly 60 pounds of methamphetamine and 2.6 pounds of suspected cocaine.
Four days later, a different resident called law enforcement to report he found several more duffel bags containing wrapped containers of a crystal substance he believed was drugs near the beach, the sheriff's office said. The bags were located in an area further west from the previous call.
Law enforcement found seven similar duffel bags filled with probable drugs. A preliminary field test found the bags contained methamphetamine and weighed 342 pounds.
The seized drugs are estimated to have a wholesale value of approximately $2 million and a street value of nearly $7 million, according to the sheriff's office.
The case is under investigation by the U.S. Border Patrol, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, US Border Patrol Air and Marine Unit, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police and OPNET. These agencies are asking for any information from the public that may assist in the investigation.
Anyone who saw a suspicious vehicle in the Joyce area along State Route 112 or unusual boat traffic in the strait west of Salt Creek Tongue Point around those dates are asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 360-417-2262, Dispatch at 360-417-2459 or leave an anonymous tip at http://www.clallam.net/Sheriff/tip.html