On Thursday, one of the defendants on trial for criminal association recounted how he started out as a lookout in the Chemin-bas-d’Avignon drug trafficking network. On Friday, the courtroom was closed to cell phones. An individual allegedly filmed the defendants the day before and posted the footage on social media.
From lookout to supplyer or the progression of a young man from Clos d’Orville who began working for the dealer network as a simple “chouf” and who had to warn of the arrival of the police in the neighborhood. Thursday, facing the president of the Assize Court, he was not very talkative, responding in very short sentences or even preferring not to respond at all on the criminal acts of which he is accused (criminal conspiracy). In fact, his participation in the purchase of bulletproof vests implicates him in a global criminal dynamic, the one who participated in the shooting action on January 25, 2021. But this man plays a supporting role compared to the others accused.
He nevertheless recognizes his role in drug trafficking. He indicates that it is his geographical proximity to the Chemin-Bas-d’Avignon which contributed to his frequentation of the district and his slipping into the terrain of traffic as a lookout. President Dorlhac asks him if he has been approached by the network heads. He explains that the people who recruited him are “people you can’t say no to”.
– “Did you want to do that?
-“Don’t really want to…”
– “Did that allow you to have a ticket?” asks the magistrate.
-“I didn’t do it for that, I was just watching.”
We then learn that from being a lookout, the young man moved on to the role of a supplier and then delivered meals for the network leaders. It was he who went to buy two bulletproof vests in an armory at the request of the network.
-“Who asked you to buy the vests?”
– “I can’t tell you.”
The rest of the interrogation revealed that the bulletproof vests (600 euros each) were placed in the apartment, the traffickers’ headquarters which was used to store and package drugs but also to stock weapons.
The dealer is asked what he thinks of the shootings that have already taken place at the drug dealing point.
-“It’s scary”
– “You know there are dead people”
-” oui”
The man nevertheless explains that he continued to go to the deal point despite the danger. He also specifies that he had been hit. The president asks him why. He replies that he had missed the police and had not informed his drug dealer friends. It is indicated that the network is locally made up of three managers and a boss.
– “Do you report to one of the three managers?” asks the president.
-“Yes” (obviously, he did not provide the names of the managers).
We then learn that he was tasked with collecting money for the network. Lookout, salesman, supplier and then collector. On the day of the events, January 25, 2021, he assures that he was at home at Clos d’Orville. The murder? He indicates that he learned “from the press and outside it is talking”. He indicates that he is not very afraid after the death of young Abdelkader.
The attorney general points out to him that he continued to go to the deal point well after the murder at Mas de Mingue. He remains uncommunicative and clearly a little impressed or even frightened and seems to be in a form of omerta. The president read a letter he sent via his lawyer in which he indicated that he never thought he would be associated with such a terrifying affair. He adds that his school curriculum was shattered and that he stupidly followed what he was told to do. He says he was the subject of intimidation and was “afraid for himself and his family”.
It is also indicated that this second role had access to the traffickers’ apartment and that few people could in principle access this trafficking headquarters.
This Friday, when the trial resumed, President Dorlhac asked the police to only allow people with an identity card to enter and to systematically check identities before entering the courtroom and prohibit the introduction of cell phones into the courtroom. So the phones are kept outside by the police. The reason ? An individual is said to have filmed the accused in the box and to have posted the images on social networks. The president now prohibits access to mobiles in the room.
