Crumpled sheet metal and flashing lights in the A86 motorway tunnel in Yvelines.
A 23-year-old man was arrested overnight from Sunday to Monday in the Duplex with around 200 kg of cannabis resin and herb in his car.
It was investigators from the Ofast branch in Versailles who mounted the arrest operation.
Around 3 a.m., the police, supported by their colleagues from the research and intervention brigade (BRI) of Versailles and Orléans (Loiret) as well as those of the research and investigation brigade financial institution (BRIFN), set up a roadblock to stop this drug convoy that they are following from the Iberian Peninsula.
When they see the police force, the traffickers are determined to escape them and take all risks to try to force their way.
The convoy had set off the day before from Spain with two vehicles.
A utility vehicle, loaded with product, and a car which opened the road.
The police decided to arrest them in Vélizy (Yvelines) in the direction of Nanterre.
“The traffickers rushed, they broke two or three police cars.
They also badly damaged theirs.
But we managed to intercept the carrier van without firing a shot,” says a source close to the case.
The driver of the opening car managed to escape.
Drug investigators have been working since December on this team of drug importers operating in the Paris region.
The driver was placed in police custody in Versailles (Yvelines).
A search, carried out at the driver's home in Franconville, turned out to be negative.
This young man, known to the police for drug trafficking, said nothing during his first hearings.
The weighing must be carried out this Tuesday by investigators to know the total weight of the goods seized during this dragnet.
“As there is a lot of grass, the volume is large but it weighs less than the resin,” specifies another source.
The suspect can remain in the hands of the police for up to four days before being presented to a judge at the Pontoise courthouse.