It was thanks to intense telephone work that the investigators of the Meaux judicial police managed to identify the sender of the package.
Sent from Martinique to a fictitious address in Villeparisis, the package had been intercepted by customs officers at Orly airport (Val-de-Marne) last April.
Inside, they had discovered 1.1 kilos of cocaine hidden in foodstuffs.
An almost banal seizure when we know that nearly a ton of white powder from the West Indies was seized by customs at the airport in 2020.
Beyond the phone, investigators also found the sender's fingerprints on the package label.
Known to the police for other facts, the 28-year-old man is a works supervisor and lives in Livry-Gargan (Seine-Saint-Denis).
The judges went beyond the requisitions of the prosecution
As their investigations progress, the police manage to determine the scenario: the individual left for only a few days in Martinique to send drugs.
According to the investigators, it is not a big trafficker, only a link in a vast network.
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He was arrested on Tuesday August 17 at his home in Livry-Gargan.
During the search, the police did not find any drugs but the case of the telephone which was used for the delivery.
In police custody, the suspect denied the facts despite the numerous incriminating elements.
Referred to the prosecution, he was tried by the Meaux criminal court on Friday.
At the hearing, the defendant finally reconsidered his previous statements.
He ended up recognizing that he had indeed sent the package but on behalf of a third party and this without knowing its contents.
A reversal which did not convince the judges who went beyond the requisitions of the prosecution.
The criminal court sentenced him to fifteen months in prison, with a committal order at the Meaux-Chauconin remand center, and a fine of 15,000 euros.