Since the discovery of 364 kg of cocaine at the end of May, hidden in a container at the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique), the investigation has progressed. Six men were indicted as part of the dismantling of a cocaine and cannabis trafficking network destined for the Nantes market, the Rennes prosecutor’s office announced on Saturday.
The investigation made it possible to “identify a very structured criminal organization, comprising six people, busy for years importing cannabis resin and cocaine destined for the Nantes market, at knockdown prices”, specifies the prosecution in a statement. The sums obtained from this trafficking are estimated “at more than 1.6 million euros in four months”.
“Heavily anchored in delinquency”
On September 26, six men were arrested in Nantes and neighboring towns, and 40,700 euros seized, as well as a money counter, said the Rennes prosecutor’s office.
The six men, born between 1990 and 2002, “are strongly rooted in delinquency”, some having already been convicted, according to the press release. At the end of police custody, two of them were placed under judicial supervision and the four others in pre-trial detention, indicates the prosecution. They face up to 30 years of criminal imprisonment for importing narcotics as part of an organized gang.
In 2022, 27.1 tonnes of cocaine were seized in France, a figure multiplied by five in ten years.