This is what we call the coincidences of the calendar… While the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau and the Minister of Justice Didier Migaud detailed this Friday the new government plan to fight against drug trafficking, a master hotel in Matignon, residence of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, was placed in police custody for having resold cocaine, according to revelations from Le Parisien.
Aged 26, the suspect, Vincent P., was arrested Thursday evening around 10:45 p.m. while he was parking on a scooter in front of a building located rue des Petites-Écuries, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, the Paris prosecutor’s office tells Le Figaro .
During his check, the anti-crime brigade agents discovered on him a sachet of 50 grams of white powder and the sum of 1,400 euros in cash.
Faced with the authorities, the young man declared that he was employed at the Matignon hotel as a butler. An assertion confirmed following a search of his house, in which the police found an accreditation badge.
However, Vincent P. has not worked there for almost a year due to a long sick leave.
According to another source close to the investigation, the young man, who previously held the position of maître d’hôtel in a large Parisian restaurant, joined Matignon in 2022 while Jean Castex was in office. He still lives with his mother and stepfather, with his girlfriend.
Contacted by Le Figaro, Matignon assures that the butler has so far never worked for Michel Barnier – appointed on September 5 – and that his sick leave was switched to “serious illness leave” on December 1, 2023. The shutdown was thus extended until May 2025. He passed through Matignon for the last time on April 18.
Due to the quantity of drugs discovered (more than 50 grams), the drug brigade was seized and an investigation opened.
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