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Drug trafficking in Canteleu: a former mayor in court
Drug trafficking in Canteleu: a former mayor in court
(France 2)
The mayor of Canteleu, in Seine-Maritime, has been on trial since Monday, May 27 for complicity in drug trafficking. The courts accuse him of having put pressure on the police services so that they do not disrupt powerful local traffickers.
With a tense face and a determined step, Mélanie Boulanger entered the courtroom of the Bobigny court (Seine-Saint-Denis) on the morning of Monday, May 27, followed by her former deputy. They will have to answer for complicity in drug trafficking, alongside 17 other defendants. According to her lawyer, the former elected official (PS) of Canteleu (Seine-Maritime), who resigned at the start of the year for health reasons, says she is determined to defend herself. “My client is waiting for justice to be done to her, for her honor to be restored to her”declared Master Arnaud de Saint Remy.
Justice suspects the former councilor and her deputy of having given in to pressure from traffickers, a national network held with an iron fist by the Meziani brothers, local traffickers whose profits at the time amounted to several million euros per year. Telephone tapping revealed that Mélanie Boulanger would have lectured a commissioner to limit the police presence at the deal points, and delayed the installation of video surveillance cameras in the sectors controlled by the Meziani brothers.
According to investigators, his assistant knew him as an intermediary. Since the start of the affair, the mayor of Canteleu has continued to proclaim her innocence. The two elected officials face up to ten years in prison.
