The PS mayor of Canteleu indicted for complicity in drug trafficking

The PS mayor of Canteleu Mélanie Boulanger has been indicted for complicity in drug trafficking and placed under judicial supervision, AFP learned on Monday from the Bobigny prosecutor’s office.

The chosen one had been placed in police custody in October 2021 during an anti-narcotics net, then released. An assistant to Mélanie Boulanger has also been indicted, said the Bobigny prosecution, confirming information from the daily Paris Normandie and the Norman media Le Poulpe.

Complicity, transport, acquisition, possession, offer or unauthorized transfer of narcotics

“The mayor and his deputy have been indicted on counts of complicity, transport, acquisition, possession, offer or unauthorized sale of narcotics. They have been placed under judicial supervision”, said the deputy prosecutor of Bobigny Anne-Laure Mestrallet. The mayor, who was also head of the PS list for the 2021 regionals, was indicted “April 22” and “the deputy on April 21”, said the magistrate.

Arnaud de Saint-Rémy, lawyer for Mélanie Boulanger explained to AFP that “if we want to have full rights to act, identify the origin of this police custody, request acts of instruction, hearings, handed over of parts, it is necessary to be put in examination”. “This procedural choice was that of the investigating judge and that suits us very well,” he added. “We want to use all the rights that will be available to Mélanie Boulanger to demonstrate her innocence,” he added.

On October 8, during a raid, nineteen people were taken into custody. The police custody of the PS mayor of this city in the Rouen agglomeration had been lifted the next day, like that of the deputy. And on October 13, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office announced the indictment of eleven people. During a press conference after her police custody, Mélanie Boulanger said she had “no connection” with drug traffickers in her town. “I know I’m beyond reproach,” she said.