The traffickers thought they had a safe haven in the Gard for their industrial cannabis cultivation that supplied drug sales networks in Marseille. But that was without counting on the OFAST (Anti-Narcotics Office) police officers, who patiently dismantled this business and arrested sixteen people in the process, reports Provence.
More than 1,500 cannabis plants
The investigation began after a simple road check in Marseille last summer, during which the police officers found a kilo of dried grass. The subsequent wiretapping, surveillance and tailing led investigators to three villas built on the same plot of land in the commune of Bellegarde (Gard).
The police observe a curious routine there: every two weeks a team from Marseille comes to stock up on products, also partly imported from Spain. The searches of the houses allowed them to get their hands on 107,000 euros in cash, 160 kg of grass and as much of resin, half a kilo of cocaine and some synthetic drugs, specifies the Provençal daily.
But above all, in a shed in the garden, the police discovered a trapdoor leading to a basement containing more than 1,500 cannabis plants.
