By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – We have some additional information on the 8 duffle bags containing millions of dollars-worth of methamphetamine and cocaine found along the shore west of Port Angeles last week.

All we knew from a previous report was that the bags had been found by people walking along the shore. We asked Sheriff Sgt. John Keegan if he could give us a better idea of how the bags may have come to be there.

He says the first bag, found separate from the others, had been submerged but was discovered by a passerby at low tide.

“The first bag that we found is just under 70 pounds, so that wasn’t floating. To my understanding, the tide went out, beach walkers found it.”

Did he want to speculate about how the drugs wound up in the water?

“Yeah, sometimes things go amiss. Sometimes accidents happen. We had issues several years ago where people were running narcotics back and forth across the Strait, they hit bad weather, and their boats would capsize, hit things, all sorts of fun stuff.”

Sgt. Keegan, without getting too specific, says the other 7 bags were found further west under different circumstances.

“Looking back in history, in smuggling activity in this county, one person would stash an item somewhere, a second person would come by and pick it up and continue that leg of the race. My understanding is that those seven were found staged. So that would lead me to believe that they were placed there and someone was going to come by later and pick them up, and then we might have actually just intercepted them or interrupted it.”

The case is being investigated cooperatively by the U.S. Border Patrol, FBI, Homeland Security, the RCMP and OPNET. They’re asking for any information from the public that may assist in the investigation.

Did you see a suspicious vehicle in the Joyce area along SR112 or unusual boat traffic in the strait west of Salt Creek Tongue Point between Wednesday, April 7 through that weekend?

You can report anonymously at (360) 417-2450, or log on to http://www.clallam.net/Sheriff/tip.html to leave information.