Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, the Florida city’s former police chief, caught 70 pounds of cocaine while fishing for mahi-mahi with her family.
Castor was celebrating her son’s birthday in the Florida Keys when they pulled up the package of drugs, estimated to be worth approximately $1.1 million in street value.
“Closer we got, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be a bail of cocaine,’” Castor told FOX13 Tampa.
The family pulled the package on to the boat using a gaff and called local law enforcement.
“My family was a little worried, like what if there was a tracker [on it] or something like that? I said, ‘Well, the batteries are dead if that happened,’” Castor said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened it up and found 25 bricks of cocaine inside.
“We appreciate the ongoing support from our boating community. Thanks to the efforts of this Good Samaritan, 70 pounds of cocaine are in federal custody and off our streets,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement. “We encourage the community to immediately report suspicious activity to local authorities.”
Castor was Tampa’s first female police chief. She served in the police department for three decades.
