Arrested for having delivered telephones and accessories, cannabis or cosmetic products by drone for several weeks at the Sequedin remand center near Lille, a 19-year-old drug trafficker was sentenced on Friday July 1 to 20 months in prison.
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An inmate, also a narcotics trafficker, who admitted having recovered one of the packages via the window of his cell, whose grid was damaged, was sentenced to 8 months in prison, in immediate appearance by the Lille court.
The judicial police, alerted to narcotics deliveries made by a drone which dropped small packages at night in the prison, had deployed police officers three nights in a row at the end of June in the surroundings.
One of the co-pilots intercepted
She noted the delivery of 5 packages and seized three others ready to go, wrapped in cellophane, and surrounded by a net.
The police also intercepted the drone, a "
first in the jurisdiction of the Lille court
", according to the prosecution.
The packages contained phones, chargers, headphones, cannabis grass and resin, lighters and cigarette leaves, but also cosmetics and even an 8 cm piece of hacksaw.
One of the co-pilots of the drone, arrested on the spot, turned out to be a 19-year-old young man, already convicted in May of drug trafficking by the juvenile court.
Also prosecuted for trafficking in cannabis, heroin and cocaine, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, including 18 firm, together with two additional firm months due to a partial revocation of the reprieve of his previous conviction.
A growing trend
The package, highlighting the "
scourge of projections
" which generates trafficking in prison and jeopardizes the safety of prisoners and guards, had required three years in prison and a fine of 5,000 euros.
In Sequedin, where several dozen packages are smuggled into the prison each month, the quantities thus "
projected
" have skyrocketed, according to the Lille prosecutor's office.
In the first quarter of 2022, 8 kilos of narcotics were seized, almost double that for the whole of 2021 (4.4 kg).
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Faced with this trend, which is confirmed elsewhere, the prosecution indicated that it had organized "
night operations (...) near each Penitentiary Center
".