They brought back several hundred kilos of illicit or counterfeit products in their nets. Last year, the fishing was good for the 270 Breton customs officers. While Brittany is not known to be the epicenter of drug trafficking, 192 kilos of narcotics were seized in the region in 2022, an increase of 65% in value of seizures compared to last year. . On January 26, 2022, during a check on a rest area near Rennes, the agents notably got their hands on 27.6 kg of heroin stashed in a car.
In full explosion everywhere in the territory, the traffic of contraband tobacco also strongly mobilized the Breton customs officers last year with the seizure of 711 kg, against around 500 kg in 2021. narcotics, says Yves Bourlieux, regional customs director for Brittany. We now find contraband tobacco for sale on social networks, for example. On November 14, agents from the Brest customs brigade hit the jackpot when they discovered 550 cartridges on board a vehicle in Landivisiau.
Protected Polynesian corals for sale on the Internet
In addition to narcotics and tobacco, customs officers also discovered more unexpected things last year, such as 152 ivory objects seized from an antiques fair on November 14. The two sellers who exhibited them had not been able to indicate the provenance of their objects, the sale of which is highly regulated.
Ten days ago, twelve Polynesian corals were finally handed over to the Océanopolis center in Brest. Listed for sale on Le Bon Coin and Ebay, these protected species were discovered in February at the home of a retiree who had brought them back after tourist stays. The seller had at the time declared not to know that it was forbidden to sell these species protected by the Cites convention, known as Washington.