On Thursday, one of the accused tried for criminal conspiracy recounted how he started as a lookout in the Chemin-bas-d’Avignon trafficking network. The courtroom was closed to cell phones on Friday. An individual allegedly filmed the accused the day before and distributed the images on social networks.
From lookout to refueller or the progression of a young man from Clos d’Orville who started working for the reseller network as a simple “chouf” and who had to warn of the arrival of the police in the neighborhood. Thursday, facing the president of the assize court, he is not very talkative, responds with very short sentences or even prefers not to answer at all on the criminal acts of which he is accused (criminal association). In fact, his participation in the purchase of bulletproof vests implicates him in an overall criminal dynamic, the one that participated in the shooting action on January 25, 2021. But this man is a secondary role compared to the other accused.
He nevertheless recognizes his role in drug trafficking. He indicates that it is his geographical proximity to the Chemin-Bas-d’Avignon which contributed to his frequentation of the district and his slipping into the terrain of traffic as a lookout. President Dorlhac asks him if he has been approached by the network heads. He explains that the people who recruited him are “people you can’t say no to”.
– “Did you want to do that?
-“Not too keen…”
– “Did that allow you to get a ticket?” asks the magistrate.
-“I didn’t do it for that, I was just watching.”
We then learn that from a lookout, the young man moved to the role of supplyer and then delivered meals for the network leaders. It was he who went to buy two bulletproof vests in a gun store at the request of the network.
-“Who asked you to buy the vests?”
– “I can’t tell you.”
The rest of the interrogation revealed that the bulletproof vests (600 euros each) were placed in the apartment, the traffickers’ headquarters which was used to store and package drugs but also to stock weapons.
The dealer is asked what he thinks of the shootings that have already taken place at the drug dealing point.
-“It’s scary”
– “You know there are dead people”
-” oui”
The man nevertheless explains that he continued to go to the drug dealing point despite the danger. He also specifies that he had been beaten. The president asks him why. He answers that he had missed the police and had not warned his drug dealing buddies. It is indicated that the network is locally made up of three managers and a boss.
– “Do you report to one of the three managers?” asks the president.
-“Yes” (obviously, he did not provide the names of the managers).
We then learn that he was tasked with raising money for the network. Lookout, seller, supplyer then collector. On the day of the events, January 25, 2021, he ensures that he was at home at Clos d’Orville. Murder? He indicates that he learned “through the press and outside people talk”. He says he has little fear after the death of young Abdelkader.
The attorney general points out to him that he continued to go to the drug dealing point well after the murder at Mas de Mingue. He remains tight-lipped and clearly a little impressed, even frightened, and seems to be in a form of omerta. The president reads out a letter he sent via his lawyer in which he states that he never thought he would be involved in such a terrifying affair. He adds that his school career has been shattered and that he stupidly followed what he was told to do. He says he has been intimidated and is “afraid for himself and his family”.
It is also indicated that this second role had access to the traffickers’ apartment and that few people could in principle access this trafficking headquarters.
This Friday, when the trial resumed, President Dorlhac asked the police to only allow people with an identity card to enter and to systematically check identities before entering the courtroom and prohibit the introduction of cell phones into the courtroom. So the phones are kept outside by the police. The reason ? An individual is said to have filmed the accused in the box and to have posted the images on social networks. The president now prohibits access to mobiles in the room.
