The twelve people suspected of extensive cocaine trafficking between Guyana and France were indicted overnight from Friday to Saturday, in particular for drug trafficking and criminal association, the Créteil prosecutor's office said on Saturday.
Arrested on Monday in the North, in Paris and in the Paris region after several weeks of preliminary investigation, the 12 people were indicted on charges of importing, possessing, transporting, offering or selling narcotics, and participating in a association of criminals with a view to the preparation of an offense punishable by 10 years of imprisonment, specified the parquet floor.
This investigation was carried out by the 2nd DPJ of Paris after information from Guyana concerning the transport of cocaine via smugglers between Cayenne and Orly airport.
Of the twelve criminals, ten were placed in pre-trial detention, in particular “for the requirements of the investigation” after their presentation before the judge of freedoms and detention and two were placed under judicial control, according to the prosecution. .
The smugglers (mules) transported the cocaine in suitcases and not as is very often the case by ingesting balls of this drug.
Investigators arrested 12 criminals aged between 30 and 41 on Monday.
Five people were arrested in a luxury hotel in the capital where 141 kg of cocaine were seized in their rooms.
Three people were arrested in Seine-Saint-Denis, where the goods were repackaged, and four in the North.
Among them, mules but also "people running the traffic", welcoming smugglers at the airport and driving them to the hotel in particular, according to a source familiar with the matter.
In 2021, more than a tonne of cocaine was seized by Orly customs, compared to 993 kilos in 2020 when air traffic was severely disrupted by the pandemic, the Créteil prosecutor's office told AFP.
In 2019, nearly 1.4 tonnes were seized at France's second-largest airport.