2023-05-01 10:12:42
Time.news – Half of the banknotes seized in France by the police contain traces of cocaine. This was revealed by a scientific study conducted in 2012 by the “experts” of the technical and scientific police of Ecully (Rhône), as reported by the newspaper Le Monde. But eleven years later, the National Gendarmerie confirms that “drug residues are found on almost all the banknotes in circulation in France”.
The analysis took place by comparing around 330 banknotes seized in ten to fifteen legal cases and 500 banknotes in “general circulation” issued by the Bank of France during each year. To arrive at these conclusions, the state-of-the-art laboratory of the National Gendarmerie uses very sophisticated technological means.
The banknotes are in fact first “washed” with a solvent which, once recovered and diluted with a “standard type mixture”, is injected into a chromatographic apparatus coupled to a mass spectrometer. The raw data is then analyzed by experts, using programmed reprocessing software to find and quantify traces of six narcotics: cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, methamphetamines, ecstasy and THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
The result is that statistically “over 90% of the banknotes are impregnated with more or less significant traces of narcotic substances”, where in general “the smaller denominations, which circulate more frequently than the large ones, are the most affected”. And this also says a lot about the fact that drug trafficking and consumption “is increasing exponentially”.
One last note: in 2023, only banknotes that have just been printed or that have been in circulation for a few days “have escaped the detection of this widespread contamination”.
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