14 DAY TRIAL // A huge shipping container filled with 11 million cigarettes has washed up on an East Devon beach, police announced. The officers are currently patrolling the beach to warn off treasure hunters to stay away.
It seems that a violent storm which hit the Bay of Biscay earlier this month caused the Danish container to wash off of a tanker, along with 516 others, informs Daily Mail.
The 40-feet (12.19-meter) box stuffed with 14 tonnes of cigarettes washed up on the Devon coast, near Seaton, this weekend and could be the first of many to land on the Lyme Bay coast during the next days.
“At the moment the container is still in shallow water and is floating, so is not accessible. It was reported by a member of the public at 8.10am this morning and officers are on scene to make sure no one puts themselves at risk to recover anything,” a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said.
Authorities warn that the contents belong to the original owner of the container, so those who are tempted to take even one packet of cigarettes that washes ashore will be prosecuted, because their act would be considered theft.
The Maersk shipping container is currently floating in shallow water, but the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are doing all the necessary arrangement to recover it. It seems that the authorities were expecting the box to wash up, but didn't know exactly where on the coast it would land.
“The police and the MCA were expecting it, we just did not know where on the coast it would arrive. It might well be the only one to make it this far. We're told most of them would have sunk or washed up in France, but this was one that bobbed its way all the way to here,” added the police spokesperson.
The cargo ship was heading from Rotterdam to Sri Lanka and six of its compartments tilted over when hit by the winds. It has been estimated that the container that landed in Seaton was carrying 55,511 cartons of cigarettes.