Trafficking between the West Indies and Strasbourg: 5 suspects imprisoned

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

In complete, fifteen individuals had been arrested throughout an operation carried out on the night time of October 25 to 26 concurrently in Strasbourg (9 individuals), Guadeloupe (5) and Saint-Martin (one) within the Caribbean, had detailed Lola Menahem, head of the judicial division of the Anti-Narcotics Workplace (Ofast), in command of 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, stated 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 underneath the path of the Jirs of Paris (Specialised interregional jurisdiction)”, based on the top of the judicial division of Ofast.

Over the course of the investigations, launched in Could 2021, the investigators had been in a position to 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 had 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,” stated Ms. Menahem.

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