Drugs Worth £1.9m Found Floating Off US Coast

US coastguards have recovered more than four tons of marijuana floating off the coast of California, in the US.

The drug haul of 160 bales, estimated to be worth more than \$3m (about £1.9m), was spotted off Dana Point, 60 miles south of Los Angeles, said local sheriff spokesman Joe Balicki.

It is thought a drug smuggling accident could be to blame but the amount involved would have required a larger vessel than a small craft typically used to smuggle drugs around the nearby Mexican-US border.

"It kind of makes you wonder how it got there," Mr Balicki said, adding: "We didn't have any reports of vessels in distress."

The bales, wrapped in plastic, were found bobbing in the sea about 15 miles from shore on Sunday.

The drugs were picked up by US Border Patrol agents assisted by the US Coastguard and Orange County sheriff's department harbour patrol deputies, he added.

Border Patrol official Michael Jimenez told the Orange County Register that large drug shipments are sometimes dropped overboard when smugglers have to flee from authorities.

"At other events, they've dumped the bales to get rid of weight if they're being chased," he explained.

"Generally in these cases we're aware they're being dumped. What's more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight."