Drug trafficking: dismantling of an Albanian network in Haute-Savoie

An Albanian network of drug traffickers, from principals to dealers, was dismantled last week between Annecy and Lyon with the imprisonment of 14 people.

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Tuesday morning, several police raids in the Lyon suburbs, in Sevrier (Haute-Savoie) and Annecy led to the arrest of 14 men and a woman, aged 19 to 46, all of Albanian nationality and having the status of applicants asylum. A 16th suspect, "a small salesperson at a point of sale ", was arrested during the night of Wednesday to Thursday, after having stolen an electric scooter in front of a video surveillance camera.

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At the same time, the investigators seized a sum of 3,200 euros, more than two kilos of pure or cut, compacted or bulk heroin, and approximately 500 grams of cocaine. Fourteen people (13 men and 1 woman), in the end, were referred and indicted for drug trafficking and association of criminals, it was said by police sources. They were all placed in pre-trial detention. The other two suspects were released.

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The “ Stups ” group of the Annecy police have been working since this fall on this network which supplied “ hundreds of customers ” at several points of sale around Annecy, notably in Cran Gevrier, as well as in Thonon-les- Bains (Haute-Savoie) and Oullins in the Lyon suburbs. Investigations and police surveillance have made it possible to identify and locate sellers and principals, the network having a " large rear base " in Saint-Genis-Laval near Lyon, according to the parquet floor of Annecy.

The decision to make the arrests " came from information indicating that after the confinement, some wanted to return to Albania as soon as the borders were reopened, " Major Jean-Philippe Charvet, chief of the police , told AFP. Urban security. " They were suspicious, " he added, " because in November, when another network was dismantled, we had seized 150,000 euros in cash, including 100,000 in the engine of a large Mercedes which was getting ready to make the trip to Albania. " The money systematically goes back there, via cash mandates, to be invested in hotel complexes and shops. " Every year, we imprison a lot of Albanians, 40 in 2019, there we will already be 30 in mid-2020, " said the policeman.

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“ There is a large Albanian diaspora in Switzerland and Geneva. They gangrened the environment 7-8 years ago and little by little they crossed the border, with bridgeheads on Annemasse and Annecy, "recounts Major Charvet, referring to the development of these networks" in Chambéry, Grenoble , Lyon and even Clermont-Ferrand ”.