Officials will be questioning how more than $3 million of cocaine washed up on an West Auckland Beach.

Police have swept Bethells Beach since last night where 19 drug-filled packages have been found.

Former drug squad detective Dale Kirk says it could have been destined for New Zealand or washed here with the tides.

He told Heather du Plessis-Allan the only thing known is it would have originated in South America.

"Cocaine heroine has to come from the poppy or the cocoa plant, so they would have come from there originally, but what route they took is up in the air at this stage."

He says that, with 15,000 kilometres of coastline, resourcing makes policing difficult. 

Kirk says we have to be realistic about what can be done on a remote island.

"The ability to get something in the country is only limited by the imagination of the people wanting to do that and the resources they have."

 

 

• $3m of cocaine washes up on West Auckland beach