investigation at the heart of dismantled drug trafficking between France and Egypt

Hundreds of boxes of cancer drugs were passed from hand to hand. These expensive treatments, from 5,000 to 10,000 euros, were collected illegally in France and transported to Egypt. This traffic in false prescriptions and massive fraud has already cost social security more than 4 million euros. The case started in January 2020, near the Swiss border, when an Alsatian pharmacist received a visit from a young man with a fake prescription. After verification, the so-called patient is actually a crook and part of a much larger criminal group.

In several towns in France, little hands run to pharmacies to get medicine. Holders of the CMU, they have nothing to pay at the cash desk. Health insurance pays the bill. The small traffic hands received 200 euros per box. Their booty was then transported by train to Paris by a second group of individuals. Then, it was handed over to their leaders, Egyptians living in Barbès, a district of the capital. Smugglers then took the loot in suitcases by plane to Egypt. The drugs were then sold on site. Last May, 14 people were sentenced. They appealed.