It is a hiccup that irritates the judicial authorities of the Hérault. The impression of a ruined job after a big dragnet. A few days ago, the Montpellier Court of Appeal canceled an important procedure where three men could have been tried following a colossal seizure of narcotics. It will not be so, for these three men, already released, as revealed Free lunch.
It all dates back to August 14, 2018, when customs officers looked at a truck, registered in Spain, parked at the Fabrègues rest area (A9 motorway). While the windows are open, no driver is on board. The customs dog will then quickly “mark” to signal the presence of drugs.
Under pallets of ceramic tiles, customs officers then discovered more than 1,200 kg of cannabis, hidden in a hatch under the floor of the semi-trailer. A find that will even lead to the filming of a video to show the “sophisticated” hiding place. Gérald Darmanin, then Minister of Action and Public Accounts, will even “congratulate the customs officers of Montpellier for this major seizure of cannabis resin and their unfailing daily involvement in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. “.
A seizure procedure deemed “irregular” and canceled
Except that all the ensuing investigation, including the arrest of the driver in Romania, the owner of the truck in Spain and a man whose DNA was on the cannabis packets, will have been for nothing. Indeed, the search of the vehicle in the absence of the driver or owner cannot be carried out in the absence of a judicial police officer. It was declared irregular by the magistrates of Montpellier.
The lawyers of the three men who had been, three years after the events, placed in pre-trial detention and then released, succeeded in demonstrating this flaw in the procedure. Their clients had been indicted for drug trafficking and criminal association. Their truck and its illegal goods, worth 2.4 million euros according to RTLwere destroyed before the arrest of the three individuals.
“Where it is a great victory is that the law has worked despite the extent of the seizure made by customs, is satisfied Me Grégoire de Petiville on the radio. We suspect that there was a fairly important legal issue. The customs administration did not respond to requests from our colleagues.