The public prosecutor of Besançon (Doubs) announced this Friday, November 14 during a press conference, a seizure of several kilos of narcotics and large sums of money. A record haul in the town.
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Nearly 3 kilos of heroin, 175 grams of cocaine, 1,425 grams of cannabis resin, 321 grams of herbal cannabis, 600 grams of heroin cutting aids, 1,575 grams of cocaine cutting aids, and nearly of €616,000 in cash. These are the results of the police in the fight against drug trafficking, in a case lasting almost eight months.
The case began on April 26, 2023, when two individuals were checked in their vehicle by the Besançon anti-crime brigade. At the time, 4.14 kg of heroin and 6 kg of cutting materials were found in their car. Since this arrest, they have been indicted, have been held in pre-trial detention and are currently under judicial supervision.
After studying the samples, investigators found fingerprints, some belonging to the two individuals, but other prints were those of third parties.
The investigations therefore continued. After the identification of these prints, the investigators traced a 32-year-old individual, little known to the justice system. The investigation proves to be more and more difficult, because the identified individual then becomes more and more suspicious, changes his phone regularly and proves difficult to follow by the police.
It was not until November 2024 that the arrest took place. A judicial police operation took place on Tuesday, November 12 in two apartments in the city and led to seizures that the Besançon public prosecutor defined “unusual and remarkable”.
These figures for the intervention forces of the national police of Besançon are clearly not usual. With a cumulative sum of €750,000 of narcotics from Northern European countries and cash, Étienne Manteaux even specifies “have never seen anything like this since arriving in 2018”.
The suspect has currently been in police custody since Tuesday November 12 at the police station in the town of Bisontine. His police custody was extended to continue the interrogations. The 32-year-old man is currently suspected of having been a “semi-wholesaler” and to have actively participated in this trafficking.
At present, he completely denies having participated in any transactions, but does not refute the presence of drugs and money seized in his two apartments. If the investigation confirms it, he risks a sentence of 10 years in prison.
