He had a ‘Dior’ package. It was actually a brick of cocaine, Biloxi police say
A man facing a drug trafficking charge is accused of trying to keep more than a brick of cocaine he found washed ashore on a Biloxi beach.
Biloxi police on Monday arrested Joey Lee Ware, 37, on a charge of aggravated trafficking of controlled substances. He is held at the Harrison County jail on a $150,000 bond that was set at his initial court appearance.
A total of 11 bricks of cocaine were found Saturday on various parts of the beach: Keesler Air Force Base volunteers found eight bricks on U.S. 90 near White Avenue. Two bricks were recovered further down near Schooners and Deer Island.
“One-and-a-half was actually discovered by a citizen, and this is the important part. If you discover it, you should call us,” Biloxi police Capt. Thomas Goldsworthy told WXXV-TV. “He (Ware) instead decided to do other things with it and he was arrested and charged with aggravated trafficking.”
Police were able to connect the cocaine source with the drugs Ware allegedly obtained because the packages had a “Dior” label, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported.
The bricks were valued at over $1 million, WXXV reported.
It’s rare for bricks of drugs to wash ashore in Mississippi, but law enforcement officials say it could become more common. Drugs often wash ashore in Texas and Louisiana.
The cocaine recovered in Biloxi will be destroyed.
This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 1:57 PM.
