Thursday May 23, 2024, as part of an investigation into vast trafficking in contraband tobacco between Normandy and Luxembourg, a man in police custody at the Rouen gendarmerie escaped through the window. Details.
New escape after that of Mohamed Amra, who left two dead at the Incarville tollbooth (Eure) on May 14, 2024. This time, it was a man arrested by the Rouen research section who escaped by the gendarmerie window, Thursday May 23, 2024.
The individual, aged 34, was arrested as part of an investigation for theft by an organized gang, trafficking in contraband tobacco by an organized gang and participation in a criminal association.
He was in police custody at the research section of the Rouen gendarmerie when he managed to escape the vigilance of the investigators and fled, jumping out of a window of the office in which he was. “fortunately without violence”specifies Rémi Coutin, public prosecutor of Évreux, in charge of this vast judicial police operation.
“Immediately, the alert was given and a major search system was set up in the Saint-Sever – left bank sector in Rouen. Being the subject of a search warrant, the fugitive is, for the moment , still actively sought, indicates the gendarmerie in a press release. Having undergone surgery last week, the authorities strongly encourage the person concerned to go to a police station or gendarmerie brigade.”
The man has already been “convicted eight times between 2009 and 2016 for various offenses (aggravated violence, violations of drug legislation, traffic offenses in particular)”, the Evreux prosecutor told AFP.
“A flagrant investigation has been opened for these acts of escape, under the direction of the Rouen public prosecutor’s office,” added Rémi Coutin to AFP.
The fugitive was not the only one to be arrested in this investigation. In total, this judicial police operation, which mobilized more than 80 gendarmes and police officers, led to the placement in police custody of 10 people (nine men and one woman) aged 18 to 43, Tuesday May 21, 2024.
At the end of their placement in police custody, eight alleged perpetrators were presented before the Evreux investigating judge. They are all indicted. Six are placed under judicial supervision and two are placed in pre-trial detention.
During the searches, also carried out on Tuesday May 21, investigators seized two STEN submachine guns with magazines and ammunition (cal. 9 mm), more than 32,000 euros in cash, five vehicles, two motorcycles, 99 grams of cannabis resin , more than 770 kg of tobacco (2,289 cartons of cigarettes, the majority of which are counterfeit, 1,243 pots of tobacco of 125 grams, 193 sachets of tobacco), luxury objects (jewelry, shoes, bags and belts) as well as a large quantity of counterfeit products: 982 pairs of sneakers and 626 counterfeit objects (bags, clothes, perfumes, etc.), 10 car seats, a television, etc.
More than 770 kg of contraband tobacco were seized in Normandy, as part of trafficking with Luxembourg.
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© National Gendarmerie
The arrests and searches took place in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Grand Quevilly, Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf, Barentin, Serqueux and Liancourt-Saint-Pierre (Oise).
The contraband tobacco came from Luxembourg. “Circulating in convoy, like this mode of action used by drug traffickers during Go Fast, the alleged perpetrators mainly used vehicles stolen in the Rouen metropolitan area to commit their crimes,” specifies the gendarmerie.
But investigators managed to catch them several times on their journeys, before the dragnet on May 21. During the month of April 2024, an inspection by Customs during an outward journey in the Seine-et-Marne department resulted in the seizure of more than 22,000 euros in cash.
Then, a very serious road traffic accident in the Marne department, during a return from Luxembourg, revealed nearly 90 kg of contraband tobacco in the vehicle.
