Tampa Mayor Jane Castor reeled in 70 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth more than $1 million, while on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys earlier this summer, her office announced Tuesday.
Castor’s family hauled the package “about the size of a microwave” from the water onto the boat,” she explained in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. When they reached a no-wake zone, she called the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to report the package. When the boat docked, a local officer and two federal agents “whisked the package away.”
The next day, the Miami Herald reported that the package discovered by Castor’s family was the fifth one that month and that it was discovered by a “recreational boater.”
“Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector seized 70 lbs. of cocaine that was discovered by a recreational boater in the #FloridaKeys,” Chief Border Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Castor reshared the post.
😆https://t.co/IPLmw6IiqU https://t.co/rPfudwxRYJ
— Jane Castor (@JaneCastor) August 8, 2023
Border Patrol noted that the packaging contained 25 bricks of cocaine.
Castor spent three decades in the Tampa Police Department, including eight years in narcotics and six as police chief, the Times noted.
"You know my family was concerned, like, 'Oh my gosh, what if they think it's ours,'" Castor said in an interview with WTSP. "I'm like, come on. So, we pulled it up and then as soon as we were in cellphone range just to call and notify them."
In an interview with CBS Miami, Castor explained that her brother spotted the cocaine while fishing.
"My younger brother saw some debris in the water, and so we went over there because, quite often, if you fish, the smaller fish will go under any kind of shade they can get. That attracts the larger fish, like triple tail," she said. "We thought it was shade as opposed to something shady. But, you know, the closer we got and once I saw the rip in it and see the tightly wrapped packages, I was like definitely that's a bale of cocaine."