record seizure on a Cotentin beach

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France 2

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E. Pelletier, S. Roul, N. Perez, T. Cuny, M. Saint-Jours, Y. Madec, P. Caron, A. Canestraro – France 2

France Televisions

In four days, on the same Cotentin beach, at least 1.5 tons of cocaine released by the sea, hidden in bags, was seized. If seizures and volumes are increasing, all products combined, it is cocaine that is of particular concern.

Drug seizures at an unprecedented level last year in France. Plus 15% for cannabis, plus 8% for heroin, plus 5% for cocaine. “Narcotics traffickers have analyzed that there is room for improvement, for maneuver, and that there are new markets to conquer”says Frédéric Ploquin, author of French narcos break the Omerta. The authorities’ main concern is the massive influx of cocaine, with seizures increasing fivefold in 10 years.

Drugs arrive in France mainly by sea

A drug that sometimes arrives in a surprising way. On the beaches of Cotentin, the weekend of February 25 and 26, a few bales were discovered by walkers, then dozens of others in recent hours, Wednesday March 1, not far from there. In total, 1.5 tons of cocaine. Was she intentionally thrown overboard? Did it fall into the water accidentally? Wednesday, March 1 in the afternoon, a helicopter from the gendarmerie flies over the area to ward off possible traffickers. The drug arrives in France, notably from Guyana by plane, but especially by sea from Latin America, to the major French ports Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) or Le Havre (Seine-Maritime).

Among our sources

Report 2022 Fight against drugs / Ministry of the Interior / March 1, 2023

Non-exhaustive list


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