Cocaine trafficking. 5 suspects charged and remanded in custody.

5 folks have been indicted and positioned in pre-trial detention on Monday as a part of an investigation in Paris into cocaine trafficking between the Antilles and Strasbourg, we realized on Tuesday from a judicial supply.

On the finish of their police custody, the 5 suspects have been offered to an investigating choose of the Paris court docket. They have been indicted for drug offenses, importation into an organized gang, prison affiliation and aggravated cash laundering after which imprisoned, the identical supply mentioned.

In complete, fifteen folks had been arrested throughout an operation carried out on the night time of October 25 to 26 concurrently in Strasbourg (9 folks), Guadeloupe (5) and Saint-Martin (one) within the Caribbean, had detailed Lola Menahem, head of the judicial division of the Anti-Narcotics Workplace (Ofast), answerable for investigations.

5 suspects, positioned in police custody in Guadeloupe, are the topic of a warrant to deliver.

The opposite 5 police custody – 4 in Strasbourg, one abroad – have been lifted, with out prosecution at this stage, mentioned the judicial supply.

Shut cooperation

The dismantling of this cocaine community between the West Indies and Strasbourg is the results of “shut cooperation between the companies: Ofast in Nanterre, the Ofast department in Strasbourg, the Ofast detachment in Guadeloupe beneath the course of the Jirs of Paris (specialised interregional jurisdiction)”, in keeping with the pinnacle of the judicial division of Ofast.

Over the course of the investigations, launched in Might 2021, the investigators have been capable of hint the route of cocaine trafficking, from the French West Indies plate, through Le Havre, the place the containers arrived, to the sellers in Strasbourg.

It was whereas following a cargo from this community from Le Havre to Strasbourg that the police arrested 9 individuals who have been unloading the products in Strasbourg.

Many searches have been carried out in current days, permitting the seizure of “334 kg of cocaine, 750 to 800,000 euros, a dozen luxurious autos and model jewellery,” mentioned Ms. Menahem.

“In 2021, 26.5 tons of cocaine have been seized, 84% of seizures have been transported by container. Ten tons had handed by the port of Le Havre,” recalled the pinnacle of the Ofast judicial division. France has round 600,000 cocaine customers per yr, she identified.

TTY