The 35-year-old official is suspected of helping traffickers import cocaine from South America for two years. He was placed in police custody, like 12 other people, in the Paris region.
Millions of French people were able to see him for a few seconds on television on July 14, 2022. Arm in arm, proud gait, honored to parade on the Champs-Élysées in front of the President of the Republic and his minister responsible, Gabriel Attal . A 35-year-old customs officer, B., was arrested and placed in police custody for cocaine trafficking on Wednesday March 8, franceinfo learned Thursday March 9 from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the Parisian.
The suspect had even been entitled to the honors of his portrait drawn up by his hierarchy, just before the parade on the Champs-Élysées. “If B. decided to march on this July 14, 2022, it is above all to share the pride he has in representing the administration which gave him a chance by recruiting him”, can we read on the customs website. “His cases are numerous and the disputes sometimes unusual. He remembers in particular this case of cocaine hidden inside several coconuts. In total, two kilos of cocaine are recovered by B. and his team”. It is in particular thanks to this feat of arms that he was able to parade in Paris.
Two years of investigation
This seizure carried out by the customs officer, who first worked at the port of Le Havre, could therefore give rise to a smile if the suspicions against him were not so serious. Because B., arrested Wednesday, March 8 in the afternoon with 12 other people by the judicial police of Versailles, is indeed suspected of having helped cocaine traffickers to escape checks.
The arrests, which took place at the same time at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport and in the Paris region in broad daylight, are the result of surveillance work by the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI). Police custody, which is all held in Evry-Courcouronnes (Essonne), can last up to 96 hours under the supervision of the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Paris.
In a press release published on Friday March 10, the Minister in charge of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal claims to be “respectful of the presumption of innocence” and that he “will follow with the greatest attention the judicial conclusions on this file.” “This case illustrates the threat that drug trafficking and organized crime pose to our country, our institutions and our sovereignty”he says, recalling “levels of cocaine seizure never encountered in France” in 2022.
Up to 50,000 euros per suitcase of cocaine
The investigation began two years ago, when the police officers of the Evry branch (Essonne) of the judicial police of Versailles noticed a strange ride. Ghost passengers, with tickets, go to the boarding area. Instead of getting on the plane, they go to the baggage area and leave the airport with one or two suitcases of 30 kilos each, filled with cocaine for an amount of around four million euros, according to current prices. retail prices for white powder. The scenario repeats itself every week, and the investigators realize that it happens every time customs officer B. works.
The suspect supervised around twenty agents daily in one of the terminals of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, where he notably managed the schedules and wrote the minutes. He is suspected of having taken full advantage of the traffic. Investigators estimate that he received between 45,000 and 50,000 euros per suitcase of cocaine leaving the airport. B. is also suspected of having invested in real estate in Senegal, his country of origin. When he was arrested in the company of phantom passengers – mules, in police jargon – two suitcases containing 60 kilos of cocaine were seized. They came from Mexico or Colombia. Investigators are actively working to trace the drug’s journey.
13 arrests
The traffickers arrested at the same time as the customs officer are “high-flying criminals”, in the words of a connoisseur of the file that franceinfo was able to join. Among them, two brothers well known to justice, the D brothers, considered at this stage of the investigation as the organizers of the traffic and located in the city of Grande Borne in Grigny (Essonne).
The cocaine that they managed to smuggle through Roissy was then transported throughout the Paris region, to supply the drug market in Île-de-France. The investigators believe, after long months of monitoring and field work with this very mobile group, that their patience has paid off. Some members of this group have notably been seen in Morocco or Megève (Haute-Savoie). All the difficulty of the BRI was to arrest these 13 people at the same time in Île-de-France. Wednesday, March 8 in the afternoon, “the planets were aligned” according to a source close to the investigation.