washed up at their feet as they sat on the beach.

The couple, staying at Pink Beach Cottages, said they were lying on the beach on Saturday afternoon when a large package wrapped in layers of rubber and plastic washed up in the middle of the beach.

After opening the package with a knife, they discovered it contained packets of white powder and called the Police.

Chief Insp. Norrell Hull of the Police narcotics department said the purity of the cocaine weighing 4.6 pounds had not yet been analysed but said it was probably worth in excess of $100,000 on the street.

The package, he said, appeared to have been in the water for some time. It was impossible to determine if it had been destined for Bermuda.

The couple from Southampton, New York who are vacationing in Bermuda for a week and returning home today, said they were completely taken a back by the find.

"I was very surprised. It was the most valuable thing I've found on the beach and I had to hand it in,'' the man joked.

He added: "It was my wife's curiosity that made me open it.'' CRIME CRM DRUGS