Seizure of 930 kg of cocaine in Pyrénées-Orientales after high-speed chase
A convoy of three vehicles coming from Spain was intercepted at Montbolo following a nine-kilometre chase. 930 kilograms of cocaine were seized and one man arrested.
Nearly one tonne of cocaine intercepted in mountains after high-speed chase
TF1 Info reports that a convoy of three cars transporting 930 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted during the night of 4 to 5 September in Pyrénées-Orientales. Gendarmes attempted to stop the vehicles at Arles-sur-Tech, but one of the drivers refused to comply and deliberately struck a gendarmes' vehicle, injuring two officers.
A high-speed chase then ensued over more than nine kilometres of mountain roads, ending at the commune of Montbolo, where law enforcement finally stopped the convoy. Two of the drivers abandoned their vehicles, still loaded with drugs, and fled on foot. The third, a man in his twenties from the Paris region, was arrested.
The scene shocked residents of this isolated locality. "They were panicked. There was no reason for them to come here. Because here, it really is remote," a resident testified.
The convoy had come from Spain and reportedly took the D115 or D3, two infrequently travelled routes, to avoid the A9, the main road through which cocaine passes at the Franco-Spanish border. The traffickers hoped in this way to escape checks concentrated on major routes.
Jérôme Bourrier, prosecutor of the Republic of Perpignan, highlighted the evolution in seizure volumes in recent years: "A few years ago, cocaine seizures by land transport concerned more quantities of 30, 40, 50 kg. Whereas today, we regularly carry out seizures involving several hundred kilograms of cocaine." Following this interception, checks were reinforced across the entire department.
The week preceding this incident, nearly two tonnes of cocaine had already been seized in the region, a volume close to the total recorded over the whole of the previous year. At the national level, the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) indicates that 84.3 tonnes of cocaine were seized in France in 2025, of which 59.5 tonnes were transported by sea. Cocaine remains the second most consumed illicit substance worldwide after cannabis, and its consumption among adults has increased significantly in France over the past ten years, as has that of MDMA/ecstasy.
Source: TF1 Info