The sentence was handed down on Wednesday. Prosecuted for “criminal conspiracy”, “transport and possession of drugs” but also for “possession of tobacco in an organized gang”, the nine defendants received various sentences. They belonged to a vast network which carried out its activities in Oise, Somme, Île-de-France or Côtes-d’Armor, reports The Parisian which recalls that on March 13, 2021, the police dismantled this criminal organization and seized 475 kg of cannabis resin in the garage of a house in the Notre-Dame-du-Thil district, in Beauvais, belonging to Chouaib J., a former trader.
During the trial, the latter claimed that he was working under the orders of Atik J., the alleged leader of a network selling contraband cigarettes and narcotics, who was absent at the hearing. He is said to be on the run in Morocco. The Beauvais court issued an arrest warrant against him, while sentencing him by default to 10 years in prison, a 60,000 euro criminal fine and a 60,000 euro customs fine. Chouaib J. was sentenced to 5 years in prison, including 6 months suspended, a fine of 15,000 euros and a 20,000 euro customs fine.
Read: France: heavy sentence for a drug lord on the run in Morocco
As for Dimitri H. and Adama Y., accused of drug trafficking and in detention before trial, they each received four years in prison. The court also sentenced three of their accomplices to sentences ranging from four to five years in prison. One of them, Taoufik M., a taxi driver, was sentenced to four years, two of which were suspended, for helping to transport drugs. “It’s his social death. He is the father of five children and will lose his taxi license for having made four trips with Atik J. without asking what he was transporting,” laments Me Sonia Houzé, his lawyer.
“We continue to position my client at the center of all this. He recognized his responsibility for the storage of the drugs and for their transport, I am not going to plead for release, but five years of imprisonment is excessive,” regretted for his part Me Jérôme Crépin, the lawyer of Chouaib J., during the last day of the trial. And to add: “ […] Chouaib J.’s garage had been under surveillance for a long time. For months, investigators saw Atik J. coming and going with bags. They weren’t Babybels in there. My client couldn’t be a snitch, the case was tied up. »
