Two brothers from Martinique suspected of being the organisers of the network were arrested, while a third man who was responsible for transporting the goods was the first to be arrested at Roissy airport.
Jars of jam and body cream are not good hiding places for three kilos of cocaine. On Sunday, September 8, a 23-year-old man was able to realize this after his luggage was checked by the customs service at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport and he was arrested in Nice.
3.5 kilos of cocaine, nearly a kilo of cannabis and money seized
In a press release, the public prosecutor of Nice, Damien Martinelli, revealed that the arrest of this man, from Fort-de-France, made it possible to dismantle a drug trafficking ring between Martinique and Nice.
“The check revealed the presence of 3.5 kg of cocaine hidden in jars of jam and body cream,” the prosecutor reported, before specifying that the suspect had quickly admitted to transporting the drugs while “providing useful information to the investigation.”
Thanks to this investigation entrusted to the Interdepartmental Service of the Judicial Police of the Alpes-Maritimes, the police were then able to trace the trafficking, in particular by identifying “two brothers from Martinique, aged 26 and 32, likely to be involved, one as the sender of the narcotics and the other as the recipient and reseller, respectively domiciled in Fort-de-France and Nice”.
During a search carried out in Nice, nearly a kilo of cannabis, 1,410 euros and several valuable watches and jewellery were discovered.
A suspect imprisoned
Following this discovery, the Martinique OFAST then took charge of arresting one of the suspects in Fort-de-France, a man already convicted of drug trafficking. “When arrested, he denied, like his brother, any involvement in drug trafficking,” explains the public prosecutor Damien Martinelli.
Despite everything, a judicial investigation was opened this Thursday, September 12, 2024 “on charges of transport, possession, acquisition, offer or transfer of narcotics”.
Two people were also arrested in Nice at the same time as the suspect was arrested in Fort-de-France.
The prosecutor stated that “at the end of the debate before the judge of liberties and detention, the individual accused of the transport was placed under judicial supervision while the person likely to be the recipient of the goods and to engage in the sale of narcotics in Nice was placed in provisional detention”.
“Requisitions for provisional detention will be made for the individual arrested in Martinique,” Damien Martinelli finally concludes.
Alexis Lalemant Journalist
