- The President of the Republic announced at the beginning of March that the protective masks were requisitioned and intended primarily for nursing staff and the sick.
- Despite this measure, demand has not weakened. And one of many people gets them from the black market.
- Stolen or expired masks… They are sold by unscrupulous traders, pharmacists or street vendors.
Who would have predicted, a few months ago, the development of this new traffic? On March 3, Emmanuel Macron announced the requisition of protective masks in order to equip healthcare personnel and contaminated people as a priority. Since then, when demand was already high, many French people have been trying to find some to try to protect themselves from the coronavirus. And they are ready to pay dearly, sometimes 10 euros each. So much so that a parallel economy is developing, fueled by theft - in the vehicles of medical personnel or in hospitals. But also by stocks of masks, sometimes out of date, bought at low prices.
Since the country was hit by this health crisis, more than ten thousand masks have been stolen from establishments of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), a few thousand in Marseille ... At the University Hospital Center from Montpellier, 12,500 of these medical devices were stolen from a warehouse between February 25 and March 10. Hospital management has filed a complaint and an investigation has been launched. In Orthez (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), a thousand FFP2 masks were stolen at the start of the week at the hospital. A 22-year-old man, unfavorably known to the justice system, was arrested on Tuesday by the gendarmes and placed in police custody.
Stolen or expired masks
To obtain them, thieves do not hesitate, either, to target the cars of the nursing staff. In Aulnay sous Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), a dozen masks and personal effects were stolen from the car of a nurse who was working on a patient's home. Similar cases are increasing across the country. So that in Haute-Saône, the gendarmerie published a message on Facebook, inviting doctors, nurses or pharmacists, to leave "nothing visible as far as possible" in their cars, identifiable thanks to the caduceus placed behind the windshield.
Sometimes, crooks even try to put on expired masks, surfing on the fear that the coronavirus generates within the population. At the beginning of March, the Val-de-Marne police officers arrested three men in Maisons-Alfort and seized 40,000 masks that the suspects, aged around 20, had bought a euro each in Marseille. These masks were out of date… since September 2012. They probably intended to erase the date with solvent.
Four investigations under way in Paris
At other times, the masks are discreetly sold by unscrupulous traders or street vendors. According to our information, the police seized this Tuesday 28,000 masks in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) which were then sold under the coat in Marseille. Last Thursday, 850 surgical masks were seized from a grocery store near Maubeuge. The store manager sold them illegally.
In Blanc-Mesnil, the police recently arrested the manager and the seller of a store who had put up for sale 32 FFP2 masks and around 200 gloves. They were placed in police custody and the business was closed. Similar crimes also noted in Aubervilliers or in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. In the capital, the prosecution told 20 Minutes that nine investigations were opened last week, five of which concerned pharmacists who sold their stocks to individuals.
Among these cases, one concerns the manager of a travel agency in the 13th arrondissement, closed since the start of confinement, where thousands of masks, gloves and a stock of hydroalcoholic gels have been discovered. The 47-year-old woman was brought to court on Saturday, but requested time to prepare her defense. She will appear on April 21, for "deceptive marketing practice" and "refusal to submit to a requisition from the administrative authority in the event of a serious health threat".
The eight other cases will be judged quickly, ensures the Paris prosecutor's office. He adds that four investigations are concerning illicit sales of masks are still in progress.
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