Nice catch.
Customs officers at the Channel Tunnel, in Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais), seized 76 kg of cocaine in one week in two vehicles embarking to England, according to a press release from the Directorate General of Customs published on Friday.
The value is estimated at 5.4 million euros on resale.
On January 28, officers checked a British van coming from the Netherlands.
X-ray examination of the vehicle showing “a suspicious area in the floor under the seats”, they got hold of 30 loaves of cocaine for a total weight of 36 kg.
The driver was sentenced Wednesday by the Boulogne-sur-Mer court to 18 months in prison with a committal warrant, a customs fine of 1.5 million euros and a ban from French territory for 3 years.
Five days earlier, the same customs services had spotted a van from Romania and found 40 kg of cocaine behind the side door trim in the back.
The driver, of British nationality, will be tried on March 1 in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Five people arrested in the Lille region
In addition, an investigation into regional drug trafficking led to the arrest of five people in metropolitan Lille and the seizure of 90,000 euros in cash, 276 g of heroin, 248 g of cocaine and 21.5 kilos (BIEN kilos) of cannabis resin, especially in an apartment rented on Airbnb, according to the Lille prosecutor's office.
“The sellers had a file of nearly 300 customers from the entire Lille metropolis, Flanders and the mining area”, details the prosecutor of the Republic of Lille Carole Etienne in a press release.
Four of the five suspects arrested Tuesday in Haubourdin, Loos and Mons-en-Baroeul, aged 19 to 50, were to be tried in immediate appearance on Friday.
In another case reported by the Lille prosecutor's office, two Lithuanians were sentenced Thursday to five years' imprisonment, ten years of ban from French territory and a customs fine of 517,000 euros.
They had been checked by customs on Sunday on the A22 motorway near Marcq-en-Baroeul, near Lille, with 10 kilos of cocaine on board their car registered in Great Britain.
