Thirty tonnes of nitrous oxide seized in Île-de-France, six men arrested

Six men were arrested on Monday June 17 in the Paris region, franceinfo learned on Thursday from consistent sources. They are suspected of participating in nitrous oxide trafficking.

During the searches, investigators notably seized thirty tons of canisters of protoxide – including ten tons of gas, the rest being the packaging –, traditionally used in cooking (to make whipped cream for example) but whose use is often diverted into “laughing gas”, with health risks.

The investigation was opened at the beginning of April after strange comings and goings around a storage warehouse in Ballainvilliers (Essonne). Investigators from the Versailles banditry suppression brigade quickly identified what looked like a network importing pallets of nitrous oxide from Poland: the product was distributed between various warehouses in the inner and outer suburbs, with a identified leader, as well as drivers, sellers and straw managers for the front companies responsible for importation.

Monday, June 17, investigators arrested six suspects and seized thirty tons of nitrous oxide in several boxes in the form of 13,000 canisters. According to a source close to the case, more than 120,000 euros were also seized, in cash and from bank accounts, as well as several cars, jet skis and quads. According to investigators, the suspects purchased five million euros worth of merchandise in 2023. An automatic pistol was also seized from one of the suspects.

The man suspected of being the leader of the network is 35 years old and his “little hands” are between 21 and 24 years old. They must be tried at the Évry judicial court, in particular for trafficking in psychotropic drugs by an organized gang, criminal association and money laundering by an organized gang.