Grenoble: four people involved in cocaine trafficking indicted

Four people suspected of belonging to a cocaine trafficking network established in the Grenoble region were indicted on Tuesday, August 4 for " importing narcotics and criminal conspiracy, " said the Grenoble prosecutor's office.

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Two of the four suspects, a 48-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man, suspected of being traffic mules, were arrested Friday at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport as they arrived from the West Indies. The investigators had discovered 16kg of cocaine distributed in their luggage.

A large sum of money, drugs and a hydraulic press for conditioning the narcotics were also discovered at the same time in two other alleged protagonists of this case, aged 44 and 48, during a search in the 'outcome of their arrest. The four accused were imprisoned Tuesday after being presented to an investigating judge.

Several months of investigation

These indictments are the culmination of several months of an investigation started in February 2019, which uncovered a cocaine trafficking network involving a 45-year-old man. After escaping the police in October 2019, the latter surrendered a week later and was indicted. Several clients were subsequently summoned and heard by investigators from the Grenoble judicial police.

Their depositions had made it possible to establish that " the traffic had lasted for at least eighteen months with retail sales, for the benefit of a clientele of regulars, at a rate of 50 euros per gram ", said the deputy prosecutor of the Republic Boris Duffau. The investigation then allowed investigators " to trace again to a supplier who organized deliveries of cocaine from the island of Saint-Martin, in the West Indies ", he added.