A gendarme looking for bundles of cocaine on a Breton beach in November 2019 (archives) -

FRED TANNEAU / AFP

The cocaine found in numerous bales, for a total of 1,600 kg, on the Atlantic coast in 2019 came from Colombia and caused the death by overdose of a young man in Saint-Nazaire, the Rennes prosecutor's office announced on Saturday.

Its origin can "be identified in a production area in northern Colombia" and the products analyzed have a purity "between 80.5 and 90%", indicated Philippe Astruc, public prosecutor of Rennes, in a press release. update on the investigation one year after the discovery of the first bundles on the beaches.

The investigations of the investigation services, in collaboration in particular with the American (DEA), Dutch and British authorities, made it possible to determine that these bundles probably came from the same load shedding that took place very offshore of Bordeaux in September 2019, according to the same source.

In November 2019, the authorities had multiplied the warning messages concerning these bundles, the size of a shoebox and surrounded by cellophane to be airtight, which were found on the beaches of an area ranging from Saint-Jean -de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) to Camaret (Finistère).

The reasons for the load shedding still unknown

Despite these warning messages, a 35-year-old young man died "by overdose in Saint-Nazaire on December 16, 2019 following the ingestion of a product he had found on the beach," the prosecutor's office announced on Saturday. .

The reasons for this shedding, voluntary or accidental, are not known just like the carrier (sailboat, cargo or even submarine).

"Part of the cargo having been lost at sea (of the order of a third or a quarter), the initial volume of product can be qualified as significant", notes the Rennes prosecutor's office, stressing that the investigation is still underway. Classes.

Most of the cocaine comes from the three major producing countries: Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

The Old Continent is the second largest market in the world, behind North America.

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  • Colombia

  • Capture

  • Drug

  • Drug traffic

  • Cocaine

  • Justice