According to our information, a second wave of arrests was carried out at the beginning of October after the interception of a drug convoy on August 13 in Montpellier. A doctor practicing in Mende, and a gynecologist practicing in Hérault, indicted for their alleged participation in trafficking, were placed in pre-trial detention.
The investigation into vast drug trafficking between Spain and Occitania, through “Go fast”, these vehicles which transport narcotics at high speed, dismantled in mid-August, when police officers could have been burned to death , has just experienced a new wave of arrests.
Thus, according to our information, on October 8, five people were arrested by the SIPJ (interdepartmental judicial police service) and the Ofast (Anti-narcotics Office). Among them, a couple with an atypical profile: they are doctors, one in Lozère, the other in Hérault…
At the start of this case, the police struck on August 13 in Montpellier by intercepting two sedans. One having served as an “opening car”, responsible for checking at the Spanish border, if customs officers were present, the second which had narcotics on board.
The investigators had established that the international network, qualified “mafia organization” by former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin at the time of the events, had made at least three trips between April and May, transporting tens of kilos of narcotics “between Spain and the South of France” indicated G.Darmanin.
Indicted for attempted murder of police officers
The arrest of the five individuals was particularly striking for the agents. Because one of the individuals, when inspecting his vehicle, wanted to set the car on fire before directly dousing two officials with gasoline. He immediately asked his companion and passenger to set the officers on fire: fortunately she did not do so.
The accused was indicted for international drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and also “attempted murder”. Nearly 70 kg of cannabis resin, but also 2 kg of ecstasy, cocaine and even weapons, were seized during the searches.
“Involving them in trafficking is totally inconsistent”
Continuing their investigations under letter rogatory from an investigating judge, the investigators therefore placed three suspects from his family in police custody: his sister aged 36, residing in Montpellier and unemployed, but also his parents. The father, aged 58, is a doctor in Mende, attached to hospitals, the mother, an obstetrician-gynecologist near Béziers. The family, of Bulgarian and Iraqi origin, settled in France for many years, legally, lived in Montpellier.
The judicial police, notably through telephone tapping, but also through testimony, suspect them of having participated in this network. They were indicted for drug trafficking but also for criminal association and the judge of liberties decided to place all three in pre-trial detention.
Enough to make the lawyers of the three defendants who appealed this decision jump.
“Involving them in trafficking seems totally inconsistent to me, if only because of the delay between the arrest of the son and their arrest. If they had participated, they would not have remained quietly going about their professional activity “ reacts Me Wilfrid Jimenez, who defends the father of the family. “And of course he says he had nothing to do with this whole thing.”
Concerning the last two accused, one was also imprisoned, the other placed under judicial supervision.
