The market value of the loot is estimated at more than 40 million euros. Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal underline the “exceptional nature” of this seizure.
SourceAFP
© MARCUS BRANDT / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP
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Lhe customs brigade in Arcachon (Gironde) seized 578 kilos of cocaine during a motorway check, a quantity representing a market value of more than 40 million euros on resale, we learned on Friday from the customs and the parquet of Bordeaux. The two drivers of the Bulgarian nationality of the truck were presented to a magistrate with a view to an indictment, in particular for importing and trafficking narcotics. The prosecution requested their placement in pre-trial detention and warrants of committal, it specifies that the two men incur up to 10 years in prison.
The seizure took place Monday during a check on the A63 motorway which connects Bayonne to Bordeaux, “in the South-North direction”, specify customs and the prosecution in two separate press releases. The search using a dog “revealed the presence of 578 kilos of cocaine packaged in loaves and gathered in pallets which were in the middle of the legal cargo”, according to the prosecution. A total of 501 packages of cocaine were counted amid tiled pallets that the Bulgarian-registered truck was believed to be transporting between Spain and the Netherlands, customs said. A sum of 7,000 euros in cash was also found in the passenger compartment and on one of the two drivers, according to the prosecution.
A seizure of “exceptional character”
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, and the delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, underlined in a press release the “exceptional nature” of this seizure “by its quantity and its mode of operation”.
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“On the roads, such a large quantity is rare,” a customs source told Agence France-Presse. “The seizures are generally a few tens of kilos, 20, 30 kilos. The largest seizures, over a ton, are made on sailboats. After docking, the drugs are dispatched in several trucks and therefore the seizures on the roads are on lower volumes, ”added this source. As of July 31, customs seizures of narcotics amounted to 73 tons, including 15.42 tons of cocaine, according to customs.