At the foot of the steps leading to the Barbès metro station, a man steals glances at passers-by behind his sunglasses with smoked lenses.
Around him, we hear the monotonous voices of street cigarette sellers pacing potential customers.
But he seems to be offering something else.
Between his fingers, he plays with a small aluminum plate containing capsules wrapped in plastic.
A young man approaches him and slips him a ticket.
In exchange, he leaves with a few pills before disappearing onto the boulevard.
In the streets of the 18th arrondissement of Paris, this scene, which has become almost banal, illustrates the problem of the illegal sale of medicines in the capital.
Suspected of having participated in large-scale trafficking, four men are on trial at the Paris court this Wednesday, February 28.
The courts accuse them of having stolen from a company nearly 60,000 euros of medicines intended to supply this market.
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