???????? Albi. Tried for drug trafficking as a repeat offense, he was acquitted by the courts due to forgetting his signature

Two days of surveillance on a “deal point”, around 200 transactions observed and a procedure which fell apart due to unsigned reports… A forty-year-old repeat offender tried for drug trafficking escaped a probable conviction and a heavy sentence this Friday at the Albi criminal court.

It was an “anti-narcotics” operation that was derailed due to procedural flaws. On the morning of December 16, investigators from the Albi police station went “on hideout” in Cantepau to monitor a “deal point” in the neighborhood. All day long, they observed the little maneuver of the salesman installed in the lobby of the building and the “lookout” positioned outside. The first, well known to the police, was quickly identified. The police see him interacting with the customers who flock in, each time dipping his hand into a flower bag to exchange products for money.

The sales continue: between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., no less than 184 transactions are recorded. The next morning, the police returned. The salesman takes his post again at 10 a.m. He wears the same clothes as the day before and always uses the same bag. The investigators then initiate the arrest. Alerted by the lookout, the man fled and got rid of the bag but was caught a little further away. €710 in cash was found on him, while the bag, also recovered, contained 26 grams of cocaine and 55 grams of herbal cannabis.

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The full article from La Dépêche here

(Thank you Yann Bourguignon)