Seven people were arrested last week in Nîmes (Gard), as part of an operation targeting grocers suspected of offering customers goods they are not allowed to sell, such as cigarettes or carboys. nitrous oxide.
Investigations began in October. The investigators looked into the case of a grocer, suspected of engaging in this type of traffic. But, the continuation of the research made it possible to uncover a potential trafficking “of great magnitude”, relates the prosecution, “supplying eight grocery stores with cigarettes for at least three years, and more recently with nitrous oxide”. The sale of tobacco, for three years, would have brought them more than 11 million euros. Large, undeclared sums were also detected.
Under judicial control
The searches resulted in the seizure of more than one hundred cartons of cigarettes, several hundred packets of rolling tobacco and a large number of nitrous oxide cylinders. The investigators also discovered a rifle, stolen a few months earlier, 15,000 euros in cash or even several thousand bottles of alcohol “of fraudulent origin”, continues the Nîmes prosecutor’s office.
An investigation for “smuggling of prohibited goods in organized gangs and concealed work” has been opened. Six of the seven people arrested were indicted and placed under judicial control. They are not allowed to hold a business. The investigation is continuing.