The Marseille prosecutor's office announced, this Saturday, November 9, the arrest at the beginning of the week of 15 people and the seizure of nearly 1.2 million euros, as part of an investigation into money laundering. narcotics.
Among the people arrested on Monday by the Marseille branch of the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast), are five Marseillais, two individuals intercepted in Vaucluse at the wheel of a van containing nearly 1.2 million euros in a cache. , and eight men arrested in Ile-de-France with the assistance of Ofast Nanterre, specifies Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone in a press release, confirming information from the Parisian.
The investigations “highlighted a very active and lucrative system for collecting money from drug trafficking,” he notes.
“Several times a week, driving vehicles equipped with special caches, a team of drivers traveled throughout France to collect bags of tickets (containing at least several hundred thousand euros) from members of the various cash networks. drug trafficking and centralize it in the Paris region, before being able to launder it through multiple companies,” explains the press release.
Three suspects were presented Thursday before the investigating judge and indicted for drug trafficking, participation in a criminal association with a view to the commission of offenses punishable by 10 years of imprisonment and laundering of drug trafficking. One of them was placed in pre-trial detention and the other two under judicial supervision.
The other people arrested will also be presented to investigating judges, and requests for placement in pre-trial detention will be taken, specifies the Marseille prosecutor.
This investigation, started in the summer of 2023 by the Marseille prosecutor's office, had already led to the seizure, in September 2023, of 43 kg of cocaine and more than 50,000 euros. Three people were then indicted.
The announcement of this raid on the Marseille drug trafficking scene comes the day after the visit of Ministers of the Interior Bruno Retailleau and of Justice Didier Migaud to the Marseille city, the scene of a bloody turf war between drug gangs. drug traffickers.
Calling for action “quickly” in the fight against drug trafficking as a “national cause”, they unveiled a plan against organized crime and promised to strengthen the resources of Ofast.
In 2023, 49 deaths linked to drug trafficking were recorded in Marseille, including seven minors, a record. Since the start of the year, 17 narchomicides have been recorded in the city.
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