Two men, suspected of having hit a customs officer in a car on Tuesday, at the Tain-l'Hermitage (Drôme) tollgate, were indicted for “attempted aggravated murders” and imprisoned.
Brought on Wednesday evening at the end of their police custody, the suspects are also prosecuted for "refusal to comply, concealment of vehicle theft and money laundering", indicates the public prosecutor in Valence, Alex Perrin.
Aged 31 and 33, domiciled in Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse, they are known for drug dealing.
80,000 euros in the abandoned vehicle
Fleeing from customs control at the tollgate, they drove their car into two officers, hitting and seriously injuring one of them.
Suffering from a head trauma, the injured customs officer was taken to hospital in Valencia.
His life is not in danger, according to the prosecutor.
The two suspects abandoned their vehicle soon after, and were stopped by gendarmes as they fled on foot.
The vehicle, which had been stolen, carried a sum of 80,000 euros "which one can think that they are in connection with an illegal activity", according to the Prosecutor.
Thursday morning, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, announced that the customs administration had filed a complaint.
The investigation was entrusted jointly to the research section of Grenoble and to the gendarmerie group of Drôme.