Italian police scooped up two tons of cocaine, wrapped in protective plastic and bobbing in the sea off eastern Sicily, authorities said Monday.

The financial police squad estimated that the recent “catch” would have fetched about €400 million ($706m) in street sales.

Boxes containing cocaine float in the Sicilian Strait off Catania. Photo / AP

The packages of cocaine were strung together with netting, police said in a statement. There was just enough plastic wrapping to keep the cocaine from getting wet without weighing it down and possibly sinking it.

Investigators hypothesised that a cargo ship left it in the sea as part of a scheme for another vessel to come along and eventually bring it to land. Police aircraft flew over the area of sea as a precaution to spot any other cocaine bundles that might have separated from the netting.

In all, police scooped up more than 1600 packets of cocaine held in 70 bobbing bundles, the statement said.