They tried everything to escape their arrest.
Caught red-handed with several thousand cigarettes and a large sum of money last Tuesday evening in Mitry-Mory, the two men did not hesitate to suggest to the police that they let them have the goods in exchange for their freedom.
Missed.
The duo was taken into police custody and referred to the Meaux public prosecutor's office this Thursday for a guilty plea procedure.
The affair began shortly after 9 p.m. in the Villette aux Aulnes sector in Mitry-Mory.
The police officers from the Villeparisis urban police station, on patrol in their screen-printed vehicle, notice the maneuvering of two men who are clumsily trying to hide from their sight.
Enough to whet the curiosity of the police who decide to carry out a check.
At the feet of the two suspects, one residing in Poland and the other in Brie-Comte-Robert, the police noted the presence of numerous uneaten cigarettes...
The attempted “arrangement” with the police failed
In the duo's vehicles, a truck and a car, they discovered no less than 367 cartons of cigarettes, as well as 17,900 euros in cash and 6,740 zlotys, the Polish currency.
They also got their hands on a knife, a machete and a telescopic baton.
Their attempt at an “arrangement” with the police having failed, the two men aged 42 and 47 were then placed in police custody.
They admitted that they bought tobacco in Poland to resell it secretly in France.
Until then, they were unknown to the police.
Also read: Smuggled cigarettes in Île-de-France: exasperated tobacconists go on the offensive
Seine-et-Marne is not spared from the scourge of contraband cigarette sales.
On January 5, the Chambre syndicale des tobacconists d'Île-de-France, exasperated to see for some their turnover plummeting by sometimes 40%, organized a strike operation in several sectors of the region where trafficking is very active.
In the department, the main black spot is around Melun station, despite numerous police raids.
In Seine-et-Marne, the police even dismantled at the end of 2021 and in 2022 two clandestine factories intended to manufacture contraband cigarettes in Poincy, near Meaux.