A drug lord suspected of being arrested in Bordeaux

A police patrol.

(Illustration) -

A big catch.

Presented as a high-level drug trafficker, and police informant, Sofiane Hambli, 45, was again arrested Tuesday in Bordeaux in a drug trafficking case, we learned Wednesday from corroborating sources, confirming information from the

.

Already heavily condemned, Sofiane H. was arrested and placed in police custody "for drug trafficking, on the rogatory commission of the investigating judge", indicated the Bobigny prosecutor's office.

He was transferred to Paris overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, said a police source.

Arrested without difficulty

According to

, he was arrested Tuesday evening, in the Chartrons district where he lives.

Investigators from the narcotics brigade of the regional directorate of the Paris judicial police had set up a device around his home and would have picked it up without difficulty.

On November 14, in the same procedure, a man named "Kamel" was "indicted and remanded in custody for transport, possession, offer or sale, unauthorized acquisition and importation of narcotics and participation in a criminal association" , according to the prosecution.

A case that shook the drug control system

In October 2018, Sofiane H., a key figure in the investigation into the controversial practices of the former boss of the fight against drugs François Thierry, was released after 30 months of imprisonment.

According to

, he was reincarcerated a month later, after having gone to Spain in violation of his judicial control and then released during the summer of 2019 against a deposit of 150,000 euros.

The affair, which shook the drug control system and led to the replacement of Ocrtis by Ofast (Anti-narcotics Office) in 2019, dates back to October 17, 2015. That evening, a team of customs officers discovered seven tons of cannabis in vans parked on Boulevard Exelmans in Paris.

Large-scale traffic

Quickly, suspicions tarnish the operation when justice discovers that the cargo was actually part of a supervised delivery operation, theoretically supervised by the Ocrtis, led by Commissioner François Thierry.

The operation was based on Sofiane H., who according to justice would have set up a large-scale trafficking organization on his own behalf.

He maintains that he only played a simple role of "logistician".

Miscellaneous

Marseille: The manager of several drug trafficking networks arrested

Strasbourg

Strasbourg: Dismantling of heroin and cocaine trafficking with the Netherlands

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