It was a local resident, intrigued by suspicious noises, who alerted the police by dialing 17. Six men aged between 21 and 34 were indicted and placed in pre-trial detention after the discovery of 338 kilos of cannabis under the double roof of a truck near Nantes last week, the Nantes prosecutor's office announced on Monday.

These men were arrested on Wednesday within the confines of a company in a business area of ​​Orvault (Loire-Atlantique).

The two emergency police teams had surprised two men trying to dismantle the flysheet of a refrigerated trailer containing 23 tonnes of fruit (pomegranates) using hammers and wooden sticks.

Sealed by 64 metal plates two centimeters thick, this false roof contained 338 kilograms of cannabis resin.

A criminal network behind it all

"This flysheet was extremely well welded, to such an extent that the judicial police took a day to extract the goods", explained the public prosecutor of Nantes Renaud Gaudeul, specifying that this method of concealment had never been used before. course in Nantes.

One of the two men fled before being found hiding in the warehouse of this company an hour later.

Two other men, truck drivers, were discovered a little further on board the tractor, registered in Spain.

The trailer was registered in Morocco.

"The originality and the quality of the concealment of the goods suggest that there is an organized criminal network at the time of loading," said Commissioner Laetitia Berkane, deputy director of the judicial police in Nantes.

An operating procedure that contrasts with the dismantling of the roof of the truck in Orvault "without appropriate tools", noted the prosecutor.

Worth between 1 and 2.7 million euros

"Individuals deny or greatly minimize the facts with which they are accused," said the prosecutor.

"It will be up to the investigation to define the role of this company, as well as determining the network for importing and receiving the goods," he continued.

The value of this seizure, now destroyed, fluctuates between one and 2.7 million euros according to the judicial police.

The six suspects, two French and four Moroccans, were indicted in particular for "transport, possession and acquisition of narcotics" and "participation in a criminal association".

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  • Federal police

  • Drug

  • Cannabis

  • Nantes

  • Miscellaneous