Seven tonnes of cannabis hidden in trucks at the bottom of a building in the 16th arrondissement in Paris… A record.
That night in October 2015, customs clearance was rare enough for President François Hollande to decide to come in person.
Identified, the owner of the twenty million euro package will serve five years in prison before being released under judicial supervision and taking the opportunity to flee to Morocco.
Her name: Sofiane Hambli, alias "the Chimera".
International drug trafficker and informant of the French drug police.
It all began in 1997, in Bourtzwiller, a small working-class district on the outskirts of Mulhouse. At that time, Sofiane Hambli was only 22 years old but he was already at the top of the list of cannabis resin traffickers in Alsace. A fine negotiator, the young boy masters the entire chain, rubs shoulders with Moroccan producers and Spanish intermediaries. To manage his business and avoid the gendarmes, he flees the coldness of the Haut-Rhin and settles in Marbella, the eldorado of the big thugs. In the early 2000s, his investments in real estate and luxury cars alerted the Spanish authorities. Hambli is arrested and repatriated to France.
He may continue the business from his cell but the big hat dreams of freedom.
In 2003, a year after his imprisonment, he took advantage of a wrist injury and a transfer to hospital to escape, helped by an accomplice who had come to attack the ambulance on a motorcycle.
Wanted by Interpol, still in hiding in the Marbella region, he was caught up in 2009 when the Spanish police discovered 210,000 euros in cash in his villa.
Behind the bars of his prison, he will then have a surprising encounter: the boss of the French anti-narcotics office.
Against a reduced sentence, Hambli agrees to become a scale, an uncle, an informant… This collaboration earned him the name “the Chimera”, the man with two faces.
Very quickly, several teams of traffickers fell in France, large quantities of cannabis resin were seized.
In a way, Sofiane respects the deal.
He even benefits handsomely.
On his release from prison, after five years in cell, he moved into a 250 m2 apartment with a swimming pool on the roof in the wealthy 16th arrondissement of Paris.
In reality, he continued the trafficking and used his relationship with the police to pass off his products in exchange for various raids involving competitors.
This time the case comes to light, the seven tons of cannabis found at the bottom of his building once again drag him to prison and bring down the boss of OCTRIS.
The penalty arrangements are going to be his way out.
Freed by the judges, Hambli again takes the tangent and disappears ... For good?
A few days ago, on October 22, 2021, a curious patient seriously injured with a knife was admitted to intensive care at the Tangier hospital.
Provided with false German papers, the Moroccan authorities recognize Hambli.
"The Chimera" goes back to prison, a 8-inch scar in the middle of his cheek.