The customs services seized in early August 256 kg of cocaine in a container from the West Indies near the port of Dunkirk and three men were indicted as part of the investigation, the Lille prosecutor's office announced on Friday August 13.
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The drugs were concealed in a container from the French West Indies using the so-called rip off technique, that is to say placed in sports bags within a load of legal goods and easily recoverable by traffickers during of the port disembarkation
”, explained the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne, in a press release. "
The cocaine seized represents a value of more than 8.6 million euros on the illicit drug market,
" the statement said.
The three men were arrested by agents of the National Directorate of Intelligence and Customs Investigations in the town of Loon-Plage, very close to Dunkirk, on August 3.
Two of them are dock workers working at the Port of Dunkirk, the third the driver who drove the heavy goods vehicle carrying the container in which the drugs were hidden.
They were indicted by an investigating judge of the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Lille, in particular for importing narcotics in an organized gang and criminal association.
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Tuesday, August 10, around 400 kg of cocaine were also seized by customs at the port of Loon-Plage in a container from Colombia, according to the Dunkirk prosecutor's office. The container where the drug was hidden was filled with bananas, according to the prosecution, which relinquished the responsibility for the Jirs de Lille.