A heavy goods vehicle branched near Marseille, anonymous calls received by the police on the stolen vehicle, suspicious movements in an industrial area near Lyon: disparate elements that finally started on a nice plug: more than 9 tonnes of cannabis resin and derivatives were seized.
It all started in the evening of April 21 in a Vitrolles service station (Bouches-du-Rhône), when the driver of the truck who was carrying the drug was robbed by criminals who seized his heavy goods vehicle, said the gendarmerie, confirming information as Paris-Match.
But just after the robbery, completely unexpectedly, the police and the gendarmerie received anonymous calls giving them details to allow the truck and its goods to be found. A surveillance system is immediately set up by the gendarmes of the Lyon research section (SR), revealing suspicious movements in an industrial area, according to the gendarmerie.
A heavy goods vehicle registered in Morocco
“Thanks to meticulous investigations, investigators from the SR of Lyon discover a road set registered in Morocco, in which there are two hermetically closed metal funds. Three other cases, already unloaded, contain careful cannabis resin, “said the gendarmes.
On April 22, an operation was launched, led by the SR of Lyon, supported by several units of the Rhône departmental gendarmerie group, for a seizure of 9.133 tonnes of resin and derivatives, estimated at 72 million euros for resale, according to the gendarmerie.
Two men were indicted on April 27, notably for drug trafficking and theft with an organized gang weapon, the Paris Laure Becuau prosecutor said in a press release.
The Junalco Investigation
Given the scale of this case, the local prosecutor’s office has gone out for the benefit of the national jurisdiction against organized crime (Junalco). The investigations, entrusted to the General Directorate of the National Gendarmerie (DGGN) and the Antisputing Office (OFAST), continue.
This cannabis seizure is one of the most important in France. In May 2019, eleven tonnes of cannabis resin had been seized in the Besançon region, during the interception of several vehicles including a heavyweight on the A36 motorway towards Paris.
The most important seizure dates from February 1999, with 23.5 tonnes of cannabis resin found in the Channel aboard a beating trawler, the Nemo, by the customs officers of Boulogne-sur-Mer (North).
