More than 2 tonnes of cocaine found stranded in northwestern France
On Wednesday March 1, six new bags washed up on the coast, in Vicq-sur-Mer, in Normandy.
AFP - LOU BENOIST
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The bags containing the narcotics were discovered on Sunday and Wednesday March 1 on the Channel coast.
Their retail market value is estimated at nearly 150 million euros.
Advertisement
Read more
The first bags were discovered on Sunday February 27 in the morning on Réville beach.
Inside, about 850 kg of cocaine.
Six new bags ran aground this Wednesday on the coast, in Vicq-sur-Mer.
This time, according to a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the regional daily Ouest-France, it is a ton and a half of cocaine.
In total, 2.3 tonnes were therefore found.
A discovery described as “
historic
”.
The maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea recalled on Wednesday that an investigation had been opened at the beginning of the week by the prosecutor's office of Cherbourg, the follow-up of the investigation being entrusted to the research section of Caen (Calvados ), the maritime gendarmerie and Ofast, the office dedicated to the fight against drug trafficking.
Trace the path of the bags
The provenance of the hermetically sealed bundles that washed up on the Cotentin coast has not been established.
They may have been deliberately thrown into the sea to avoid control or fell off a ship on their own, said a source familiar with the matter.
Sometimes the bundles are secured to the hull of the boat and not placed inside and can unhook depending on the state of the sea, added another source familiar with the matter.
Investigators must now try to trace the route of these bags.
The maritime prefecture affirmed that “
special surveillance of the maritime approaches to the North Cotentin sector was maintained and ensured by air means
”.
“
New overflights as well as maritime patrols are carried out
,” she added.
At the start of the afternoon, there "
had been no new discoveries of narcotics
", the maritime prefecture said on Thursday in a tweet.
"
White Tsunami
"
This is not the first time that cocaine has arrived on the French coast.
At the end of 2019, bales containing a total of 1.6 tonnes of white powder had washed up on the beaches of an area ranging from Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) to Camaret (Finistère).
More recently, at the end of May 2022, breads of cocaine, for a total of around 21 kg, were found on a beach in Berck (Pas-de-Calais).
►
To read also: Mysterious packages of cocaine wash up on the French Atlantic coast
On Wednesday, during a press conference devoted to the 2022 results of the fight against drug trafficking, Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts in charge of customs, announced a "historic" seizure of 1.9 tons of cocaine at
the
port
. of Le Havre
on February 19 by its services.
“
We must prevent this white tsunami from reaching our shores
,” he added.
In 2022, 27.7 tons of this drug were seized, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.
(
With
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Extend your reading on the same topics
France
Dope
Crime