20,000 euros per day, 50,000 euros per day, up to 90,000 euros for the most profitable deal points. Trial after trial, the Marseille justice system keeps accounts of the staggering sums raked in by drug networks. But perhaps more difficult than accumulating fortunes, traffickers at the top of the spectrum must find ways to put these tens of thousands of small denominations back into the legal circuit, and thus be able to enjoy them.
Long a blind spot in the fight against drug trafficking, the laundering of dirty money is now, at least in the speeches of successive Ministers of the Interior, made a priority. With a recent change in doctrine: “Follow the money, like you follow the product”hammer together the Marseille prosecutor's office and the police headquarters.
A desire made concrete by the creation of a group specializing in money laundering within Ofast Marseille. At the start of last week, the painstaking work of these specialist investigators led to a landmark operation: the seizure of 1.2 million euros hidden in a cache in a van traveling in Vaucluse. The money seized probably belonged, according to information from Parisianto two of the most powerful clans in the Phocaean city – the DZ Mafia and a team from the La Castellane city, a “four” which is nevertheless supposed to have been weakened by the XXL square net operation and an occupation of the city by the law enforcement. These organizations would have agreed to take the cash out of the deal points via the same circuit.
“A very active and lucrative system for collecting money from drug trafficking”
The investigations have “highlighted a very active and lucrative system for collecting money from drug trafficking”Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said this Saturday before describing the mechanism: “Several times a week, driving vehicles equipped with special caches, a team of drivers traveled throughout France to collect bags of tickets (containing at least several hundred thousand euros) from members of the various cash networks. drug trafficking and centralize it in the Paris region, before being able to launder it through multiple companies”indicates the prosecution.
This investigation, which began in the summer of 2023, had already led to the seizure, in September 2023, of 43 kg of cocaine and more than 50,000 euros. Three people were then indicted. In last Monday's operation, 15 people suspected of belonging to this money laundering network were arrested, including 5 from Marseille, the two drivers of the van, and eight men arrested in Ile-de-France with assistance of Ofast Nanterre.
Three suspects were presented Thursday before the investigating judge and indicted for drug trafficking, participation in a criminal association and laundering of drug trafficking. One of them was placed in pre-trial detention, the other two under judicial supervision. The other suspects arrested will also be presented to investigating judges, and requests for placement in pre-trial detention will be taken, specifies the Marseille prosecutor.
The announcement of this police success comes the day after the visit to Marseille of the Ministers of the Interior Bruno Retailleau and of Justice Didier Migaud, who announced, like their predecessors, that they wanted to fight against drug trafficking “cause nationale”.
