No, drug trafficking does not only take place at the foot of the bars of buildings in sensitive housing estates.
In Seine-et-Marne, this scourge does not spare the countryside and small, uneventful towns.
However, it is not because they go green that the dealers in the fields escape the vigilance of the gendarmes.
“As in the cities, these deal points are sources of nuisance, generate risks of violence and we are here to dismantle them, assures Séverine Hammel, the squadron leader at the head of the gendarmerie company of Meaux. Last year, we also carried out a similar operation in Oissery. There are no territories where you can traffic!”
So a little before last summer, when the military spotted some clues suggesting that traffic had settled in Crouy-sur-Ourcq, a village in the northeast of Seine-et-Marne, they immediately launched various investigations, within the framework of a preliminary investigation.
For several months, the gendarmes of the autonomous territorial brigade of Lizy-sur-Ourcq, supported by their colleagues from the cell specializing in spinning and surveillance, were able to identify three men suspected of being involved in this traffic, who was mounted on the central square of Crouy.
The traffic brought in the alleged leader around 2000 euros per month
Patiently, they observed that the deal point was set up at the start of the evening with an average of seven transactions per evening and a local “clientele” or those coming from the surrounding villages.
Last Tuesday, the gendarmes took action and arrested three residents of Crouy-sur-Ourcq, who were taken into custody.
The one who is suspected of being at the head of this network is a 25-year-old man, known to the police.
Investigators estimate that the traffic brought him around 2000 euros per month.
During searches of homes and in caches that had been identified beforehand, 900 euros in cash, 556 grams of cannabis, two mortars, as well as an air soft gun were found.
Characteristic equipment (scales, packaging bag or knife) was also seized.
The three alleged traffickers were brought to the Meaux court on Friday to be tried in immediate appearance by the criminal court.
But their trial was finally postponed until February 14.
In the meantime, the 25-year-old defendant has been remanded in custody.
The other two suspects, aged 27 and 30, were placed under judicial supervision.