A turtle was found with €44 million worth of cocaine wrapped around it

The poor turtle.

A giant sea turtle was found trapped among €44m worth of cocaine. It had to be rescued by the US Coast Guard after it became entangled in the drugs. A Coast Guard ship called Thetis found the turtle after the crew noticed the packages floating in the water, with the sea creature trying to flee from it.

During their 68-day Eastern Pacific counter drug patrol, the crew of USCGC Thetis rescued a large sea turtle entangled in $53 million worth of cocaine. Read here to learn more about this patrol: https://t.co/x9VCINZ25I pic.twitter.com/Zhddcb4lgg

— U.S. Coast Guard (@USCG) December 21, 2017

The poor turtle suffered from “significant chafing” on its neck and flippers, however the crew members detangled it and set it free into the ocean. It is thought that the drugs were thrown into the sea after the owners feared they would be caught. Commander Jose Diaz said: “They probably felt the heat coming and got rid of it." All of the cocaine was handed over to the authorities, however no one has been arrested at this time.