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Orly: cocaine traveled by plane in coffee capsules

2021-04-15T16:20:17.442Z


A network of cocaine traffickers and money launderers was tried last week in Paris. A repeat offender and his accomplices are suspected


This case had been baptized "Tunisair" but it is finally the trial of Haithem D. and his network of acquaintances, members of the Tunisian diaspora, installed in the Paris region, which has just been held in front of the XVIth chamber of the criminal court. from Paris.

The prosecutor requested, Friday, April 9, sentences of two years including a suspended sentence of seven in prison and fines of 15,000 to 70,000 euros against three men and two women, aged 36 to 46 years who were on the benches of this courtroom since Tuesday.

They are suspected of having between 2018 and November 2019, participated in juicy cocaine trafficking between the Netherlands, Paris, Orly airport (Val-de-Marne) and Tunisia but also in money laundering operations. .

"The investigation did not make it possible to worry any steward and only resulted in the seizure of 60 grams of cocaine", explains the magistrate who recalls that his file is based on many hours of surveillance and interceptions conversations and videos.

"I guarantee transactions with Tunisia"

In the courtroom box, Haithem, red sweater and a little strong physique, is the only defendant still detained in this case.

And for good reason, he is suspected of being the organizer, a repeat offender already convicted of drug trafficking and he was even on day parole when the investigation began.

“I have been using cocaine for eight years and guaranteeing transactions with Tunisia.

It's the only way I have to pay for my drugs, ”he announces straight away.

At the origin of this story, in July 2018 at Orly airport, the gendarmes of the air transport research section gathered information on the existence of this traffic, implemented with the complicity of members of the flight crew of the Tunisian company.

They understand that Haithem supplies himself with cocaine in the Netherlands by road with the help of an accomplice.

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The drugs are then stored and cut in an apartment, rented in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, transformed into a laboratory.

The soldiers install microphones and cameras there and discover that their main suspect organizes parties there where cocaine is available in quantity in a salad bowl and where alcohol flows freely.

They also listen to the telephone conversations of members of this network who spend hours talking about cooking but also cocaine and money.

He was cutting drugs in an apartment in the 13th arrondissement

Investigators see the traffickers cutting and squeezing the drug before packaging it in coffee capsules, intended to be exported by plane to Tunisia.

The main suspect often goes to Orly and Roissy airports to meet flight personnel to whom he hands over packages which allegedly contain kilos of cocaine.

He officially works for a friend who runs a company specializing in office furnishings.

But the military noticed that he did not spend a lot of time on it.

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Her trusted man and childhood friend provides supplies and surveillance missions for mules, those who carry drugs.

One of the women uses drugs with him and sometimes helps him cut the drugs.

The latter's cousin, who sold a pizzeria, exchanges euros for dinars during a financial compensation operation because she wants to carry out a real estate project in Tunisia.

During the investigation and during the hearing, the business manager assures us that he has nothing to do with this traffic and that his friend has betrayed his trust.

His advice, Jean-Gilles Halimi pleaded in favor of the release considering that his client was totally foreign to this story.

The dealer's right-hand man admits that he has supervised money transports and consumed drugs.

One of the women explains that she was under the influence and used cocaine with the drug dealer.

The second suspected of money laundering maintains that she did not know anything about the source of the money.

And his lawyer, Me Delphine Malapert also asked for his release.

The trafficker assures that he was selling in the Paris region

Under fire from the president's questions, Haithem downplays and refuses to recognize the international dimension of his activities.

He maintains that he bought drugs in Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis) in batches of 100 grams which he resold in his circle of acquaintances in the Paris region.

He assures that he did not need to supply himself in Belgium or the Netherlands and did not export cocaine to his country because the business was sufficiently profitable to allow him to ensure his consumption and make a profit.

To justify the round trips to the airport and the money transfers, he argues that he was sending cigars, watches and luxury goods there.

The trafficker explains that he allowed his Tunisian contacts to make purchases in France by a system of compensation dinars against euros to circumvent the law on the exchange.

His lawyer, Me Laurence Mariani believes that he has recognized the essential, that is to say the trafficking.

Haithem D. was sentenced this Thursday to six years in prison, with continued detention. The other sentences range from one year suspended to four years, two of which are suspended.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-04-15

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