For several months, inmates in many French prisons used a Snapchat account to do their shopping. Called Drone2France, this account managed by eight people specialized in the delivery of contraband (alcohol, drugs, smartphones, etc.) via drones.
For several years now, Snapchat’s reputation has been tainted by several scandals, notably due to its recurrent use by criminal organizations. Already in 2021, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin declared in an interview that Snapchat had become “Lthe drug social network“. A position shared by the American justice system, which sued the platform in February 2023 after the filing of a complaint by around fifty parents. They accused Snapchat of facilitating drug trafficking.
However, today’s story only confirms this trend. In fact, the gendarmes from the Limoges research section have just put an end to vast contraband trafficking. It all started in January 2023, when prison guards at the Uzerche remand center (Corrèze) spotted a drone flying over the prison courtyard. The aircraft had just dropped a package, obviously intended for one of the detainees.
They quickly managed to identify the recipient. They found cannabis in the package as well as several smartphones. In the process, they search the client’s cell and find another motive. After going through the phone’s data, the police discovered that the inmate placed his order via a Snapchat account called Drone2France.
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A contraband delivery service on Snapchat
A long-term investigation then begins. According to information shared by law enforcement, this Snapchat account has become in a few months the reference for the delivery of contraband in French penitentiaries. In total, deliveries were made to more than fifteen centers detention, notably in Fresnes, Epinal, Châteauroux, Tarascon and Metz. “We also realized that they were making deliveries to Belgium,” specifies Lieutenant-Colonel Denis Dempuré, commander of the Limoges research section.
The minimum order amount was 450 euros, and for this price, the customer received a package containing smartphones, narcotics or other products of their choice. And to deliver near a prison, the “basket” had to contain at least four packages, representing a bill of 1,800 euros. It took almost a year of investigation to identify the authors of this illegal service, which offered promotions and advertisements like Amazon or any e-commerce site.
8 people arrested, €160,000 in earnings
At the start of the week, 80 gendarmes led a vast search in the Paris region and Hauts-de-France. In total, 8 people were arrested and this Thursday, three of them, including a couple (considered the mastermind of the operation), were indicted for drug trafficking, illicit delivery of objects to detainees and money laundering. IThey were placed in pre-trial detention.
According to the latest elements of the investigation, all the defendants are known very unfavorably to the police, precisely for drug trafficking. One of the leaders of the operation had just served a year in prison on remand before launching this Snapchat account. According to law enforcementthe criminal group pocketed no less than 160,000 euros of earnings between October 2022 and April 2023, and again this is an estimate as specified by the gendarmerie. During the searches, the gendarmes found two drones, drone trackers, 2.3 kg of cannabis, two luxury cars and leather goods. The investigation is still ongoing to find possible accomplices (in particular the families of the detainees who placed the order) and to determine how the money reported was used.
Source: 20 minutes