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Justice: Former drug boss faces ten years in prison
Justice: Former drug boss faces ten years in prison
(France 2)
Former head of the anti-drugs force, François Thierry, finds himself in the dock in Lyon. He has been on trial since Monday, September 23, for organizing a false police custody of a drug baron, who was in reality an informant.
Upon his arrival at the hearing at the Lyon (Rhône) court on Monday, September 23, François Thierry remained silent. The former head of the fight against drug trafficking is accused of having organized a false police custody to dismantle a drug trafficking ring, without the green light from the courts. The commissioner has always contested the accusations.You don’t run an office like the narcotics office with cowboy methods.“, argues his lawyer, Francis Szpiner.
The case began in April 2012. To obtain information on a drug shipment from Morocco, François Thierry called on his privileged informant, Sofiane Hambli, one of the biggest French cannabis traffickers. The man, imprisoned in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle), was serving a 13-year sentence in a narcotics case. François Thierry had him removed from his prison and placed in a hotel in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) under police custody.
Sofiane Hambli then trapped his suppliers by telephone. The anti-drug operation did not, however, produce the expected results: despite the tailing and surveillance, the police only seized two tons of cannabis, out of the six that the traffickers were transporting.
François Thierry, also involved in another case, faces up to ten years in prison in this trial.