Nearly a tonne of cocaine seized near Perpignan following a chase
A convoy of three vehicles from Spain was intercepted in the Pyrénées-Orientales with 930 kg of cocaine on board. Two gendarmes were injured, one driver arrested.
Record seizure in the Pyrénées-Orientales: 930 kg of cocaine intercepted
Approximately 930 kg of cocaine were seized in the Pyrénées-Orientales following a chase involving a convoy of three vehicles, the prosecutor of Perpignan announced on Monday. According to lefigaro.fr, the events took place during the night of Friday to Saturday, bringing the total quantity of cocaine intercepted in the department to 1.8 tonnes in the space of a single week.
One of the drivers deliberately rammed a gendarmerie vehicle, slightly injuring two officers, prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier specified in a statement. Law enforcement then launched a pursuit and deployed an extensive search operation, allowing them to seize all three vehicles and the entirety of the drugs being transported.
Only one driver was arrested: "an individual in his twenties, from the Paris region", according to Bourrier. Two other drivers remain actively sought.
The three vehicles were arriving from Spain. Investigators quickly concluded that the matter concerned an "international organised crime association", which led the Perpignan public prosecutor's office to hand over the case on Monday to the National Anti-Organised Crime Prosecution Office (Pnaco).
Following this seizure, controls were reinforced across the entire Pyrénées-Orientales department. The previous week, nearly two tonnes of cocaine had already been intercepted in the area, a volume comparable to that recorded over the entire previous year.
In 2025, the Anti-Drugs Office (Ofast) recorded 84.3 tonnes of cocaine seized in France, of which 59.5 tonnes were transported by sea.
Source: TF1 Info