Europe 1 with AFP 6:15 a.m., October 10, 2021, modified at 6:15 a.m., October 10, 2021
After his arrest on Friday, the mayor of Canteleu in Seine-Maritime was released yesterday.
His police custody intervened during an anti-narcotics crackdown.
Searches led to the seizure of 15 kg of heroin, 25 kg of cutting products, firearms and the sum of 375,000 euros.
The PS mayor of Canteleu (Seine-Maritime) Mélanie Boulanger was released after his police custody on Friday during an anti-narcotics crackdown, we learned from his lawyer on Saturday . "I confirm the lifting of custody of Mélanie Boulanger without any charge being brought against her," said Me Arnaud de Saint Rémy, confirming information from the Paris-Normandy daily. Mélanie Boulanger is also vice-president of the agglomeration and she was head of the PS-EELV list for the regional ones. Friday, nineteen people were arrested, fifteen in Seine-Maritime, including two elected from Canteleu, and four in Seine-Saint-Denis, as part of this investigation for drug trafficking and criminal association.
Me de Saint Rémy did not know the fate of the other elected official who is not his client, Hasbi Colak, deputy in charge of economic development.
According to the Bobigny prosecutor's office, which is piloting the investigation, searches "made it possible to seize 15 kg of heroin, 25 kg of cutting products, firearms and the sum of 375,000 euros".
Friday, the prosecutor of Bobigny Eric Mathais had specified that the people had been arrested and placed in police custody "on the rogatory commission of an investigating judge of Bobigny, seized of a judicial information opened since September 2019 of the heads of traffic narcotics and criminal association ".
Survey started in 2019
The investigations allowed "to identify several people in connection with this traffic" and led to "schedule a simultaneous operation", had detailed the magistrate. "A very large network of drug traffickers has been dismantled," a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Saturday. According to her, there are several aspects to this affair, "the importation of very large volumes of weapons and drugs" and "laundering".
"We are talking about a historic family in Canteleu. People in the sights of the police for several years", she said, affirming that "this family very strongly influenced the local political world in Canteleu".
The investigation began in 2019 "in Seine Saint-Denis with the arrest for cocaine trafficking of a lieutenant of the family who organizes the trafficking in Canteleu", according to this source contacted by AFP.