The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

How Abdel, 30, went from business owner to drug transporter

2021-05-12T20:07:37.030Z


Originally from Hauts-de-Seine, this thirty-something with a well-made head was arrested in October 2018 while he was conveying two tonnes of can


Abdel is what we call a specialized transporter… in cannabis.

This young 30-year-old colossus has just been refused his request for release by the Paris detention judge.

After 30 months of investigation, the investigating judge in charge of this case believes that this man and his teammates must remain behind bars for a few more months, the time for her to explore new avenues.

Bald head and well made brains, Abdel is described as the head of this team of logisticians from Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) and Argenteuil (Val-d'Oise). Like what usually happens in the legal economy, this subcontractor transported cannabis by tonnes between Spain and the Paris region.

Already convicted four times, in particular for drug trafficking, this criminal, originally from Colombes, is also in the process of being tried by the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court for having participated in the attack on a bank to the ram car.

He was remanded in custody in this case before being released from prison in 2016. “I lacked maturity.

I was in debt and my creditors were putting pressure on me.

I agreed to do this drug transport without knowing the value of the goods, he says.

In fact, I could have done something else to make money because I have the ability. ”

Read also Île-de-France: a conveyor stopped with 600 kg of cannabis

Abdel does not lie on this last point, he first worked in the building industry with his father.

Then he managed a transport company and then another motorcycle taxi before spending sixty months in prison for the robbery and the trafficking case for which he is still imprisoned.

He took the opportunity to study literature and biology.

Two tons of cannabis in the Iveco

This story goes back more than two years, to October 16, 2018 at the Vierzon (Cher) tollgate, when customs officers surprised a convoy at the tollgate. The opening car, inside which sits a young woman who gives the change and directions to others, and the broom car are stopped at the barrier of the A20 motorway. The carrier vehicle, an Iveco van, exits on national road 20 in an attempt to bypass the dam. But the customs officers who have been following this team for several days have planned the maneuver and stop it on the N20.

The agents get their hands on two tons of cannabis resin and 100 kg of herb from Morocco packed in heat-sealed bags. A seizure that represents a loss of at least three million euros for buyers. The police also get their hands on wave jammers and notice that the cars are equipped with Spanish license plates.

The three men and the young woman are placed in police custody in the premises of the gendarmerie.

They explain their role but do not provide any information for the rest of the investigations.

“These are people from the same neighborhoods who all have in common that they don't have a job,” explains a source close to the case.

Like this father, now 40 years old.

An electrician in life, he quit his job on a moody basis.

And with the arrival of a third child, he agreed to take this trip off the hook for 5,000 euros.

"I dived for ease," explains the attendant who has already received, in 2007, a heavy prison sentence for drug trafficking.

After thirty months of investigation, no information on the sponsors

They are all four indicted by a judge of the interregional jurisdiction of Paris before being imprisoned. Anti-Narcotics Office (OFAST) investigators listen to suspects in prison and exploit data from their phones. They discover without much surprise that the subcontractors of the traffic made several trips to Spain before being arrested. A second wave of arrests was carried out in September 2020 and a third in February 2021, which made it possible to indict a man designated by Abdel as a sponsor. "But the two men do not have the same version, which leaves doubt on the sincerity of their defense strategies ..." specifies a magistrate.

For the moment, the procedure does not establish who was the seller of the resin and even less to whom it was intended.

"Those who were arrested are service providers," explains Abdel's counsel, Me Philippe Ohayon.

My client is presented as the organizer and a big bandit because he is smarter than the others.

But the big bandits are not smart people, they are violent people.

"According to our information, the cannabis would come from a Moroccan farm which supplies a spawn of the logistics of the traffic nicknamed the" Chinese ".

This elusive character, originally from Massy (Essonne) is under an arrest warrant from the French justice after being sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 for a case of trafficking in the Val-de- Marl.

The cannabis market amounts to 3.5 billion per year

Cannabis, which is the most widely consumed drug in France, represents an estimated turnover of 3.5 billion euros per year and half of the imports arrive in Ile-de-France, a hub that supplies certain towns in province. It is a sector of the underground economy that is said to employ approximately 200,000 people, who supply this drug to 1.5 million regular users. Cannabis comes mainly from Morocco. The farmers are installed there in farms of the Rif and are untouchable by the French police force. The kilo is sold there between 1000 and 1500 euros depending on its quality before being negotiated around 3000 euros in the Paris region.

The quantity of cannabis imported into France is said to be over 700 tonnes per year. As far as we know, because this estimate is based on seizure figures: 76 tonnes in 2018 and 100 tonnes in 2019. In 2020, investigators from the judicial police and customs officers seized 96 tonnes of cannabis. Which would represent about 10% of what goes without a hitch.

Source: leparis

All tech articles on 2021-05-12

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.