Vast anti-drug operation on Lot trains and at Cahors station, 200 passengers checked this Thursday

SNCF users were wondering, this Thursday morning, why so many gendarmes and police officers were present in the hall of the Cahors station and on its platforms. Certainly not for a simple ticket check.

During this major deployment of forces, eight Lotois gendarmes, nine police officers and two dog handlers checked travelers boarding the morning trains, particularly the one coming from Souillac. This at the request of the public prosecutor as part of the fight against drug trafficking and the identity check of foreign nationals in an irregular situation on French soil.

SNCF security teams mobilized

Police officers and gendarmes had also planned to board the train to take them from Cahors to Souillac. But this, showing a significant delay, was not taken into account for these inspections.

It was therefore from Souillac to Cahors that a final check was carried out. Four members of the SNCF security and fines teams were also on site. No type of infraction was observed during this operation.

Expert reinforcement dogs

“This type of requisition can take place several times a year. We act in this way for checks per se, but also to reassure passengers, sometimes with the reinforcement of dog teams” underlines Commissioner Surlapierre. The dog Peps, an excellent member of the dog brigade of Colomiers, in the Toulouse suburbs, was on the lookout.

In Tarbes, recently, this same animal expert smelled a little more than a kilo of cocaine in a bag. “As soon as the dog notices a suspicious odor, he sits and waits quietly for his reward. A treat. He is capable of smelling the molecules of narcotics through various layers,” explains his master.

Other anti-drug operations planned

The men of the gendarmerie and the national police disperse and return to their headquarters. The mission is complete. But, depending on the new directives from the Keeper of the Seals and the Ministry of the Interior, other large-scale operations of the same type could be carried out in the Lot, as part of the intensification of the fight against drug traffickers. .

“We are working with the aim of securing the entire Lot railway network and not just through this type of operation. Unannounced checks can take place at any time in the stations of our department” confirms the colonel in conclusion. Lodde.