The Paris Criminal Court on Wednesday (September 28th) sentenced four Guyanese aged 20 to 43 to 18 months to five years in prison for their participation in crack trafficking dismantled in Paris in early September.
The investigation established that the four men each occupied a specific role in the logistics of the network: "
dealer
", "
cook
", "
mule
" and "
importer
" of crack, a smokable cocaine derivative, cheap and very addictive nicknamed the "
poor man's drug
".
The police first identified Josué Perlet, 43, near a Paris metro station at the end of June.
His spinning allowed them to go back to Marvin Fowler, 41, from Guyana, "
cook
" of the network but also reseller in the Saint-Denis sector (Seine-Saint-Denis).
“Mules” recruited
Then Rolston Barnett, a native of Cayenne, "
cornerstone
" of the case according to the prosecutor, was responsible for importing cocaine from Guyana, where he recruited "
mules
" responsible for transporting the drug incorporated into ingested eggs.
All three were arrested last August after returning from a trip to Cayenne, alongside a "
mule
", Jérémy H., 20 years old.
During their arrest, the police got their hands on a hundred eggs, for a total of 844 grams of cocaine, a precision scale and packaging equipment in a hotel in the 10th arrondissement of the capital.
In her indictment, the prosecutor recalled the “ international
” backdrop
of drug trafficking and more specifically crack, “
a real scourge in Paris
” and asked for sentences of ten months to five years in prison for the defendants.
She also challenged their claims that the police had exaggerated their role in the traffic.
“
We cannot say that everything is invented by the police
”, swept the magistrate, judging “
a little easy to question the integrity of the procedure
”.
The defense lawyers pleaded for their clients to be released or moderate sentences to favor their "
accompaniment
".