Seven people have been indicted after a major anti-drug operation. The network would have sent five tons of cocaine in France, according to investigators.
By NJ with AFP
© Guillaume BONNEFONT / MAXPPP / IP3 PRESS/MAXPPP
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A major drug trafficking network between Martinique and France has been dismantled. Friday, June 9, seven people were indicted at the end of a vast anti-drug operation during which at least 1.3 tonnes of cocaine was seized, we learned from police and judicial sources. They were placed in pre-trial detention for “drug trafficking, money laundering and criminal association”, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Justice, the specialized interregional jurisdiction (JIRS) of Fort-de-France and the anti-terrorism office. – narcotics (OFAST), broadcast on Friday evening.
“Investigators estimate at five tons the volume of drugs shipped by sea by this criminal network”, it is underlined in the press release.
Over a year of investigation
A source close to the investigation indicated on Saturday, without mentioning dates, that “several very large seizures of cocaine in containers” had been made “in several destinations in France”. One of them, of 1.3 tonnes of cocaine, took place at the end of 2022 at the Radicâtel terminal, located near Le Havre, in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Folleville (Seine- Maritime), according to another source close to the investigation.
These arrests, carried out in particular “over the whole of Guadeloupe”, are the result of “more than a year of investigations”, according to one of these sources.
Some of the indicted “worked in the environment of the port of Jarry”, the first in the Guadeloupe archipelago for freight traffic, “in particular as a docker, security guard or handler”, specifies the press release. In total, fourteen people were arrested simultaneously on Tuesday in Guadeloupe and in the Paris region.
“Various seizures [ont été] operated, in particular of cash, vehicles and firearms, discovered during the operation”, according to the press release.
The investigation is continuing, under the leadership of the JIRS of Fort-de-France.