Drug trafficking: 18 months imprisonment for courier intercepted in the Pyrenees
A 31-year-old man has been sentenced after being caught red-handed transporting 35 kilograms of cannabis resin hidden in a 4x4 vehicle equipped with a secret compartment.
Drug trafficking: 18 months imprisonment for courier intercepted in the Pyrenees
A customs inspection conducted during the night of 6 July in Saint-Lary-Soulan resulted in a record seizure of drugs. Officials uncovered 35 kilogrammes of cannabis resin hidden in a compartment built under the boot of an all-terrain vehicle.
The operation took place around 22:20. Officers discovered 41 tablets of drugs beneath a false carpet activated by a magnetic device. The driver, a 31-year-old man originally from Morocco and based in Italy, was immediately detained. Investigators also seized 1,015 euros in cash from his personal effects.
The defendant had come from Spain and was heading towards the Toulouse region. At his immediate trial three days later before magistrates in Tarbes, he admitted driving the 4x4 in exchange for a payment of 3,000 euros. However, he claimed not to know what quantity of goods was on board. According to his statements, a man he met in Italy had proposed this job to him. The suspect explained that he had left his native country to work as an agricultural labourer in the Alps, where he received a modest salary, part of which he sent to his family.
The defence argued the accused's economic vulnerability. The customs administration, for its part, emphasised the elaborate nature of the concealment device, suggesting that the vehicle belonged to an organised network. The prosecutor's magistrate requested a sentence of three years' imprisonment.
The judges ultimately imposed a sentence of eighteen months without suspension, accompanied by permanent expulsion from national territory, confiscation of the 4x4 and seized materials. The defendant must also pay a customs fine of 102,900 euros as well as 1,015 euros corresponding to illicit proceeds.
Source: La Dépêche du Midi
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)