The police did not believe their eyes! Eleven tons of cannabis resin were seized Friday by the judicial police in the Besancon region, after a multi-year investigation. The investigations, conducted in close collaboration with the Moroccan and Spanish authorities, have resulted in the largest cannabis seizure in France for more than 20 years.
How was the operation?
Friday night, the investigators intercepted on the A36, near Besançon, a heavyweight containing more than 10 tons of resin, barely concealed. In a car and a warehouse, they also found hundreds of pounds.
According to information from Europe 1, the truck had left Morocco on a ferry from Tangier to Barcelona. Then he had crossed France to Mulhouse and a first warehouse, and was driving towards a second in the Paris region. The cannabis was to be distributed among dealers, some of whom came from Belgium.
A long-term survey
A judicial inquiry was opened in 2017. It was thus 18 months that magistrates of Nancy led this file with the Central Office for the repression of the illicit traffic of narcotics (OCRTIS), the police judicial of Mulhouse, and in close collaboration with the national security of Morocco and specialized units of the Spanish police. According to a statement from the Prosecutor's Office of the Interregional Specialized Jurisdiction (JIRS), this work with Moroccan and Spanish police has provided "valuable elements for the investigation".
On Twitter, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner welcomed a "record seizure, concretization of an exemplary investigation".
Congratulations to the PJ of Strasbourg and the central office for the repression of the illicit traffic in narcotics for this record seizure, realization of an exemplary investigation carried out with their Moroccan and Spanish counterparts. #FiersDeNosPoliciershttps: //t.co/00PuMaXFt4
- Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) May 13, 20194 known police suspects
In total, 4 suspects were placed in custody, among them an Italian, says JIRS. Individuals are well known to the police. They were indicted "for import of narcotics organized gang, drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy", and placed in pre-trial detention, announced Tuesday the JIRS.
11 tons were seized, which represents a heavy loss of several tens of millions of euros for traffickers. Their value is estimated at "more than 20 million euros," said Tuesday the JIRS, which states that investigations are continuing to "identify and challenge other people involved in this large-scale international traffic."
A record seizure
These eleven tons represent a record seizure on French soil, the largest since 1996. That year, 20 tons of cannabis were seized in a warehouse in Rouen.