The new customs methods in the fight against drug trafficking seem to be working on flights between Guadeloupe and mainland France. Since March 2024, agents have targeted certain planes and checked all passengers to identify the mules.
“The results are very good because we no longer have any intake, or very very little”declared to theAFP Friday April 26, 2024 Olivier Fouque, regional director of customs for Guadeloupe and the Northern Islands. “We had 47 in total last year and now we have done one or two, no more, since the start of the year”he clarified to our colleagues.
Turned away at Pointe-à-Pitre airport
Checks are carried out at Pôle-Caraïbes airport, in Guadeloupe, and cause several hours of delay. Customs detect suspicious passengers who are then refused boarding. They receive an administrative ban from embarking to the Antilles or the European continent, explained Guadeloupe 1st in March 2024. “We turned away at least 30 people”asserted Olivier Fouque at theAFP. The suspects are likely to be arrested “when they represent themselves. » ” None “ did not protest, according to the customs official.
Customs had noted in Guadeloupe an increase in the number of mules who ingested drugs after the establishment of 100% control in Guyana at the end of 2022. Two people died.
2 kg of cocaine in fake braids
The mules now prefer to use other stratagems to transport the drugs to mainland France. ” Fifteen “ using other methods was arrested, “with cocaine in the luggage, on the body or in the hair”. In March 2024, a 24-year-old Guyanese woman was surprised “with 2 kg of cocaine” slipped into “tubes hidden in false braids”. She received “18 months in prison and €30,000 fine”.
In addition to changing their methods, the mules attempt to smuggle more drugs on each trip. In 2023, Guadeloupe customs seized, all controls combined, 142 kilograms of cocaine.
